IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Date of Reserve: January 21, 2026 Date of Pronouncement:- 06.03.2026 Date of Uploading:- 12.03.2026 Reliance General Insurance Co. Ltd. ......Appellant vs.

Nisha Aggarwal and others ......Respondents Whether only the operative part of the judgment is pronounced? NO Whether full judgment is pronounced? YES CORAM: HON'BLE MRS. JUSTICE SUDEEPTI SHARMA Present: Mr. Sanjeev Kodan, Advocate, for the appellant.

Mr. Vijay Lath, Advocate for respondent Nos. 1 to 5.

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SUDEEPTI SHARMA J .

1. The present appeal has been preferred by the appellant-Insurance Company against the award dated 24.04.2025 filed under Section 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 by the learned Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Rupnagar (for short, 'the Tribunal’) on the ground that the liability to pay compensation to the tune of Rs. 2,86,05,570/- has been wrongly fixed upon the appellant-Insurance Company as well as quantum of compensation being on higher side.

FACTS NOT IN DISPUTE

2. Brief facts of the case are that on 10.08.2023, Prinshu Jain (since deceased) along with his parents, went for walk after taking dinner, outside their house at Ajauli Morh to Village Malukpur Link Road on the extreme left side of the road. Prinshu Jain was walking along with the right side of his father. When they reached near Riale Gas Factory, it was about 08:45 P.M., in the meantime, one Innova Car bearing registration No.PB-02-BJ-0613, came from opposite direction i.e. from Ajauli Morh side, which was being driven by its driver in a rash and negligent manner, without blowing any horn and hit into Prinshu Jain due to which he fell on the road. The father of Prinshu Jain (since deceased) raised hue and cry on hearing the same, number of persons gathered at the spot. Thereafter, with the help of persons, Prinshu Jain (since deceased) was taken to Civil Hospital, Nangal where the doctor declared him brought dead. It has been mentioned in the petition that FIR No.0118 dated 11.08.2023 was registered under Section 279, 304-A IPC at Police Station Nangal.

3. Upon notice of the claim petition, respondents appeared and admitted the factum of compensation.

4. From the pleadings of the parties, the following issues were framed by the learned Tribunal :-

“1. Whether deceased Prinshu Jain son of Anil Jain @ Anil Kumar Jain died in the motor vehicle accident that took place on 10.08.2023 at about 08:45 P.M. in the area Ajauli Morh, Malukpur Road, near Rail Gas Factory, due to rash and negligent driving of Innova Car bearing registration No.PB-02-

BJ-0613 being driven by respondent No.1?OPP

2. If the above issue is proved, whether the claimant is entitled for compensation as prayed for?OPP

3. Whether the respondent No.1 was not having valid documents i.e. driving licence, RC etc. at the time of accident?OPR

4. Whether the present claim petition is not maintainable?OPR

5. Relief.”

5. After taking into consideration the pleadings and the evidence on record, the learned Tribunal awarded compensation to the claimants/respondent Nos. 1 to 5. However, the appellant-Insurance Company was held liable to pay the compensation. Hence, the present appeal.

SUBMISSION OF LEARNED COUNSEL FOR THE PARTIES.

6. Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the appellant–Insurance Company contends that the manner in which the accident has been described in the claim petition is scientifically improbable and, therefore, the involvement of the Innova car bearing registration No.PB-02-BJ-0613 in the accident is doubtful. He further argues that the offending vehicle was falsely implicated at a later stage. Learned counsel further submits that there are material contradictions in the evidence adduced by the claimants/respondent Nos. 1 to 5 and that the compensation awarded by the learned Tribunal is excessive.

7. He further contends that there was delay in lodging the FIR, which renders the version of the claimants/respondent Nos. 1 to 5 doubtful. He further refers to the cross-examination