Aniruddha Bose JUDGMENT
Surya Kant, J.
1. Leave Granted.
2. These two appeals, which have been heard through video conferencing, are directed against the judgment dated 23.07.2018 passed by the High Court of Judicature for Rajasthan, Bench at Jaipur whereby the first appeal preferred by the New India Assurance Co. Ltd. (Respondent No. 1) against the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal's (hereinafter, "Tribunal") award dated 01.09.2012 was allowed and the Claim Petition was rejected, whereas the appeal filed by the Appellant-claimants for enhancement of compensation was consequently dismissed.
Facts:
3. Sandeep Sharma (deceased), was a resident of District Sikar in Rajasthan. He was travelling in a car bearing registration No. UP 65 AA 7100 from Ghazipur to Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh) on the night of 25.03.2009 along with his friend Sanjeev Kapoor (Respondent No. 2) and two other occupants. Sanjeev Kapoor, who was also its owner, was driving the car when at about 10:20PM near village Atroli, a truck coming from the opposite side struck the car as a result of which all the occupants suffered injuries. Sandeep along with the other injured-occupants was rushed to the District Hospital in Ghazipur at around 11:55PM, but was subsequently referred to the Institute of Medical Sciences and S.S. Hospital, BHU, Varanasi on 26.03.2009 considering the severity and multiplicity of his injuries. Although he was discharged on 16.04.2009 and brought back to Rajasthan, it appears that Sandeep kept experiencing one after another medical complications, and remained hospitalized at the Jain Hospital in Jaipur and later the Joshi Nursing Home at Sikar. His injuries eventually got the better of him and Sandeep Sharma passed away on 10.12.2009.
4. At the time of death, the deceased was aged 34 years and was an income tax Assessee with an Employees Provident Fund (EPF) account. He was employed in Mumbai at Kelvin Ess Vee Textiles as a Sales Officer on regular basis. He left behind a widow, two minor children and a mother; all of whom were dependent on him.
5. Sandeep's dependents filed a claim petition for Rs. 60,94,000 (Rupees sixty lakhs and ninety-four thousand) on 26.08.2010 alleging, inter alia, that he died as a result of the injuries suffered in the above-mentioned accident of 25.03.2009, which occurred due to the rash and negligent driving of Sanjeev Kapoor who was the owner-cum-driver of the car in which Sandeep was travelling. Sanjeev Kapoor (hereinafter, "owner-cum-driver") and the insurer of the car-New India Assurance Co. Ltd. (hereinafter, "insurance company") were impleaded as party Respondents.
6. The owner-cum-driver in his written statement admitted that the deceased had suffered multiple injuries in the accident while travelling in the car with him but he disowned responsibility for the accident by asserting that it was the truck which was coming from the opposite side at a very fast speed, and was being driven in a rash and negligent manner. Since all the four occupants of the car had been injured, they were unable to note the registration details of the truck which made a hasty get-away towards Ghazipur.
7. The insurance company in its separate written statement took the preliminary objection that as per the police investigation and first information report, the accident was caused by an unknown truck which hit the car No. UP-65-AA-7100 and, therefore, the claim petition filed against the owner of the car or its insurer was contrary to law. The factual averm........