Motor Vehicles Act

The Supreme Court (SC) in United India Insurance Co. Ltd., Shimla v Tilak Singh & Others [2006 (4) SCC 404] and Oriental Insurance Co Ltd v Sudhakaran K V & Others [ 2008 (7) SCC 428] says that a pillion rider on a motorcycle is not a third party. But another bench has reservations about the view and referred the issue to a larger bench.

If the victim is not the earning member of the family, the compensation cannot be reduced on that pretext. So, in 1994, the legislature had fixed the income of a non-earning person at Rs 15,000/- per month and in case of a spouse, it would be one-third income of the spouse if he is an earning member, as per the Schedule II of the M V Act. The Schedule II has been removed by the 2019 amendment of the M V Act.

In simple personal injury cases, the compensation will be awarded only for expenses relating to treatment etc, loss of earnings and damages for pain and suffering. In grievous injury cases and permanent disability other items such as loss of future earning, future medical expenses, loss of amenities and loss of expectation in life can be added in arriving at just compensation when medical evidence corroborates with claimant’s evidence.

When information of a road accident is received in the Police Station, the Investigation Officer (IO), who investigates the accident, shall inspect the site of the accident, take photographs / videos of the scene of the accident and the vehicles involved in the accident and prepare a site plan drawn scale to scale, indicating the lay out and width etc of the roads or places, the position of the vehicles and persons involved and such other relevant facts.

To calculate just compensation in a death case, the first thing to be done is to calculate the annual income or dependency or multiplicand, after deducting the tax. Then deduct the personal expenses and living expenses from it. The resultant amount is termed as annual income or multiplicand or dependency. For this exercise the claimant must establish the age of the deceased, the income of the deceased and the number of dependents.

Over speeding of official vehicles of Very Important Personalities (VIPs), such as ministers or other public functionaries, piloted by police vehicles without observing speed limit or other traffic regulations is impermissible in law.

A three Judge Bench of the SC in The New India Assurance Company v Somwati, relying on a two bench judgement of the SC in Magma General Insurance Company Limited v Nanu Ram & others, (2018) 18 SCC 130, recognised spousal, parental and filial consortium.

The key judgments in regard to fixation of compensation in motor vehicle accident cases are: Sarla Verma v Delhi Transport Corporation & Anr Reshma Kumari & Ors v Madan Mohan & Anr National Insurance Co. Ltd. v Pranay Sethi & Ors The Pranay Sethi case was heard by a five-judge bench of the SC. The judgement laid down some broad guidelines for assessing the amount of compensation to be paid to the accident victims in areas where there were divergent approaches.

When information of a road accident is received in the Police Station, the Investigation Officer (IO), who investigates the accident, shall inspect the site of the accident, take photographs / videos of the scene of the accident and the vehicles involved in the accident and prepare a site plan drawn scale to scale, indicating the lay out and width etc of the roads or places, the position of the vehicles and persons involved and such other relevant facts.

In motor vehicle compensation claims in which the fault of the driver concerned is not pleaded, such claims are filed under Section 164 of the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988 (MV Act). The issue of negligence, wrongful act, or default of the driver of the concerned vehicle cannot be pleaded in such claims.

In hit and run motor accidental cases Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) has no judication or role under Section 161 Motor Vehicle Act, 1988 (MV Act). Such claims will be dealt with the Claim Enquiry Officer( CEO).

A person injured in a motor vehicle accident can claim two types of damages: one is non-pecuniary damages (general damages) and the other is pecuniary damages (special damages). The non-pecuniary damages (general damages) are the damages which cannot be calculated in terms of money. The Pecuniary damages are those damages which the victim has actually incurred and are capable of being calculated in terms of money.