Date of filing : 22.08.2019.

IN THE TAMILNADU STATE CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION, CHENNAI.

Present: Hon’ble THIRU JUSTICE R. SUBBIAH : PRESIDENT C.C.No. 130 of 2019 Friday, the 31^st day of May 2024 Span Edutech Ventures Pvt Ltd., No.77, Main Road, Podanur Coimbatore- 641 023 Rep. by its Managing Director Mr. Madan A. Sendhil .. Complainant - Vs –

M/s.Reliance General Insurance Co. Ltd., 2^nd Floor, Abirami Towers 43B. Cowley Brown Road R.S. Puram, Coimbatore-641 002 Rep. by its Branch Manager .. Opposite Party Counsel for the Complainant : M/s. S. Baskar Counsel for the Opposite party : M/s. Elveera Ravindran This Complaint came up for final hearing on 19.12.2023 and after hearing the arguments of the counsel for the opposite party and on perusing the material on record, this Commission passes the :-

following

O R D E R

R.SUBBIAH J., PRESIDENT This complaint has been filed by the Complainant under Section 17 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, against the opposite party for the following directions:

a) To pay a sum of Rs.77,88,400/- towards the cost of the vehicle insured by the opposite party;

b) To pay a sum of Rs.1,32,000/- towards parking charges, Rs.6,00,000/- towards cost of hiring a vehicle @ Rs.75,000/- per month from the date of accident along with subsequent hiring charges till the date of payment;

c) To pay a compensation of Rs.10,00,000/- for mental agony;

and d) To pay a sum of Rs.25,000/- towards litigation charges. 2. In brief, the case of the complainant as projected in the Complaint is as follows:

The complainant owns an Audi Q7 LMV bearing Registration No.PY 01 CR 3233 and availed an insurance policy from the opposite party bearing No.102001723110025074 valid from 10.10.2017 to 09.10.2018, for a value of Rs.77,84,000/-. The said vehicle met with an accident on 01.08.2018, well within the validity period of the said policy. At the time of accident, the vehicle was driven by one Mr.B.Jagadish Kumar. The complainant informed about the accident to the opposite party vide their letter dated 03.08.2018. Thereafter, an official claim No.3118143859 dated 03.08.2018 was submitted to the opposite party along with all necessary documents, towards the repair cost of the vehicle, as estimated by the authorised dealer amounting to a sum of Rs.93,00,000/-. Since the said accident resulted in death of 6 persons and injury to few others, a case in Crime No.225/2018 was registered under Sections 279,337,338 & 304(2) of IPC, by the Traffic Investigation Wing (West), Coimbatore on 01.08.2018 against the driver of the vehicle namely, Mr.Jagadish Kumar. The Investigation Agency vide a subsequent report dated 02.10.2018, requested the Judicial Magistrate No.VII, Coimbatore to alter the Sections to 279, 337, 338, 304(II) of IPC r/w Sections 183, 184 and 185 of the Motor Vehicles Act. According to the complainant, such a request was untenable as no offence as contemplated under these sections was made out, particularly there was no basis to invoke Section 185 of the Motor Vehicles Act. The Forensic Sciences Department, Regional Forensic Laboratory, Coimbatore which analysed the blood and urine samples of the said B.Jagadish Kumar, vide its report dated 02.08.2018 addressing the Casualty Medical Officer, Civil Assistant Surgeon, Coimbatore Medical College Hospital, Coimbatore had stated that ethyl alcohol was not detected either in the blood or urine samples of Jagadish Kumar. Thereby it was established that the said Jagadish Kumar was not under the influence of alcohol at the time of accident. Only on completion of their investigation, the police had filed a charge sheet on 02.10.2018 against B.Jagadish Kumar under Sections 279, 337, 338 and 304(A) of IPC and the said case was also taken on the file of Judicial Magistrate No.7, Coimbatore in C.C.No.232/2018 and the same was pending trial at the time of filing the complaint. Hence, it is quite evident that there are no charges under Section 185 of the Motor Vehicles Act in the char