FAO No. 545 and 557 of 1995

1

IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA, CHANDIGARH

FAO No. 545 of 1995

Date of decision March 7, 2014

Shree Pal

....... Appellant

Versus

Sh. Lal Chand and others

........ Respondents

FAO No. 557 of 1995

Om Parkash

....... Appellant

Versus

Shri Lal Singh and others

........ Respondents

CORAM:

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE K. KANNAN

Present:-

Mr. Ashit Malik, Advocate

for the appellant.

Mr. Suvir Dewan, Advocate

for the Insurance Co.

****

1.

Whether reporters of local papers may be

allowed to see the judgment ?No

2.

To be referred to the reporters or not? No

3.

Whether the judgment should be reported in

the digest?No

K. Kannan, J (oral).

1.

The appeal is against the dismissal of the

petition and the appeals of the respective appellants claiming

compensation for injury suffered in a motor accident. The subject

matter of appeal in FAO No.545 of 1995 was a claim at the instance

of a motor cyclist Shree Pal who was coming from the link road to the

Archana arora

2014.03.12 17:12

I am the author of this

document

FAO No. 545 and 557 of 1995

2

main road and came by collision with the insured's vehicle. The

tribunal found from the rough sketch filed and from the FIR that the

vehicle coming on the main road had a right of way and the accident

was the result of negligence of the motor cyclist only. Where there

was a clear visibility of a link road, a greater circumspection by a

person going on the main road could have avoided the collision. I

will not find a case for dismissal but I will apportion a higher

percentage of responsibility for the accident on the motor cyclist who

was driving from the link road. I will cast the liability between the

motor cyclist and the driver of the insured's vehicle as 75:25 and

proceed to determine the various heads of claim as under:-

Injury Cases

Age:

32

Period of

hospitalization

Occupation &

Income

Heads of Claim

Tribunal

High Court

Sl No

Amount (Rs)

Amount (Rs)

1

Loss of Income

from

to

5,000/-

2

Medical Expenses:

(i)

Medicines

10000/-

(ii)

Hospital Charges

(iii)

Attendant Charges

(iv)

Special Diet

(v)

Transportation

3

Pain and Suffering

15,000/-

7500/-

4

Disability

14%

5

Loss of earning

capacity

Income

Multipler

FAO No. 545 and 557 of 1995

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Injury Cases

6

Loss of amenities

15,000/-

7

Reduction in life

expectancy

Loss of earning

power in percentage

8

Income x % of loss

of earning power x

multiplier

(250x12x15)

-

Total

37500/-

2.

In the manner of assessment I have

considered the fact that the claimant was 23 years of age and he

must have suffered loss of income as a labourer at least for two

months considering the fact that he had a fracture of the left leg

below knee and he should have taken not less than six weeks for

complete cure. It is also contended that he had spent about

`22,000/- towards medical expenses but produced no bills for the

expenses incurred. Considering that it was a single fracture where

the treatment appears to have undertaken without any surgical

intervention, I will take the medical expenses to be `10,000/- and

provide for pain and suffering at `7500/- and loss of amenities at

`15,000/- considering that the disability assessed was 14%. Out of

the total amount `37,500/- I will cause an abatement of the claim to

the tune of 75% for the contributory negligence and assess `9,375/-

which is rounded off to `9500/-. The amount in excess of what has

already been granted by the Tribunal shall attract interest at the rate

of 7.5% per annum from the date of petition till the date of payment.

3.

FAO No. 557 of 1998 was with reference to a

claim for compensation for Om Parkash. As far as he is concerned

FAO No. 545 and 557 of 1995

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no plea of contributory negligence is possible and it was a case of

composite negligence it shall be perfectly competent to maintain an

action against the ins