The main legal point established in the judgment is the determination of liability and compensation in a motor accident case, including the validity of the driver's license, contributory negligence, dependency of claimants, and computation of compensation under various heads.

JUDGMENT :

1. Heard Shri Aditya Singh Parihar, learned counsel holding brief of Shri Rahul Sahai, learned counsel for the Insurance Company, Shri Rakesh Kumar Porwal, learned counsel for the owner of the vehicle, Shri Nigamendra Shukla, learned counsel for the driver and Shri Ram Singh, learned counsel for the claimants.

I. INTRODUCTION

2. The three appeals arise out of the same accident and an award made by the learned Motor Accident Claims Tribunal/Additional District Judge, Fatehpur, in M.A.C.P. No. 256 of 2014 (Sunil Kumar Dwivedi and others Vs Rajesh Kumar and others) dated 25.04.2016 granting compensation to the claimants for the death of the deceased in the motor accident by partly allowing their claim. The appeals have been filed by the Insurance Company, claimants and owner of the vehicle respectively and are being decided by a common judgement.

II. Case of the claimants and respondents before the learned tribunal:

3. Briefly the case of the claimants before the learned tribunal was that the deceased died of injuries sustained in an accident which occurred on 23.04.2014 and was caused by the rash and negligent driving of the driver of Truck No. UP 78 CN 7781. The deceased was travelling in a WagonR car being driven by her husband on the Yamuna Expressway when the accident occurred. The claimants were dependant on the deceased. The insurance company resisted the claim by filing a written statement. Both parties adduced evidence in the trial.

III. Compensation awarded by the learned tribunal:

4. The learned tribunal in the impugned judgement dated 25.04.2016 awarded compensation as under:

IV. Issues for Consideration:

5. After advancing their arguments, learned counsels for the respective parties agree that the following questions fall for consideration in these appeals:-

A. Whether the driver of the offending truck was in possession of a valid driving license at the time of the accident? Whether the truck owner was liable to pay compensation ?

B. Whether there was any contributory negligence on part of the driver of the Wagon-R?

C. Whether all the claimants were dependants of the deceased?

D. Whether while determining the compensation the learned tribunal had lawfully computed the amounts under various heads like multiplier, consortium amount, deduction towards personal expenses and interest?

E. What is the compensation to which the claimants are lawfully entitled?

IV A. Issue of validity of license of the truck driver and liability of the truck owner:

6. The learned tribunal in the impugned award found for the insurance company and against the owner on the issue of driving license. The learned tribunal references the recital in the transport authority report (document 49-Ga-1) that the licence was in the name of one Om Prakash S/o Ram Prakash. On this footing the learned tribunal held that the driving license of the driver Santosh Kumar S/o Shivram presented by the owner as evidence was fake. The learned tribunal added these grounds to support the conclusion. The driver had used the said license