Insurance Company Can't Deny Claim Merely Because Person Insured Is Allegedly Involved In Multiple Motor Accidents: Orissa High Court

The Orissa High Court has held that merely because a person driving a vehicle is involved in multiple road accidents, at different point in time, is no reason for the Insurance company to deny his claim.Single Judge Bench of Justice B.P. Routray observed,"no logic is there in the contention of the Appellant that because the accused is involved in more than one accident at different points of time, the claim of compensation contemplated under Sec.166 of the M.V. Act would be nullified on that ground."An appeal was filed by the insurer (appellant herein) against the judgment passed by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT), Keonjhar in two motor accident cases. The present appeal was in respect of MAC Case No. 156/2017 wherein the Tribunal had granted compensation to the tune of Rs.65,000/- along with 7% interest per annum to the claimant on account of injury sustained by him in the motor vehicular accident dated 30.4.2017. It was contended on behalf of the Appellant that the accused, who was the driver of the motorcycle is a habitual offender of causing road traffic accidents and two other cases against him are pending at Keonjhar and Cuttack. Therefore, his claim to get compensation on account of injury sustained in the alleged motor vehicular accident is not tenable in the eye of law. However, rejecting such contention raised by the appellant-insurer, the High Court said, "This contention of the Appellant is rejected out-right since no evidence with regard to such contention has been brought before the learned Tribunal. Secondly, no logic is there in the contention of the Appellant that because the accused is involved in more than one accident at different points of time, the claim of compensation contemplated under Sec. 166 of the M.V. Act would be nullified on that ground." Resultantly, the appeal was dismissed and the Appellant-Insurance Company was directed to deposit the entire award amount along with interest in terms of directions of the Tribunal within a period of two months which was directed to be disbursed in favour of the claimant. Case Title: The Divisional Manager, National Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Sunil Majhi & Anr. Case No.: MACA No. 253 of 2019 Judgment Dated: 21 March 2022 Coram: Justice B.P. Routray Counsel for the Appellant: Mr. P.K. Panda, Advocate Counsel for the Respondent: Mr. P.K. Mishra, Advocate Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Ori) 31Click Here To Read/Download Order

Insurance Company Can't Deny Claim Merely Because Person Insured Is Allegedly Involved In Multiple Motor Accidents: Orissa High Court

Jyoti Prakash Dutta

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