The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has confirmed the compensation amount awarded by a Motor Accident Claims Tribunal to the family members of a deceased loadman and two other loadmen who were injured in an accident.
The court was hearing the batch of appeals preferred by the New India Assurance Company challenging the compensation awarded by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal in Kovilpatti.
In 2010, a lorry carrying stones from a quarry lost control and overturned in Thoothukudi district. In the accident, a loadman Chinnathambi died and two other loadmen Ayyanar and Muniyasamy sustained serious injuries.
The tribunal concluded that the insurance company was liable to pay the compensation and awarded a compensation of ₹ 7.72 lakh to the family members of deceased loadman Chinnathambi, ₹ 4.20 lakh to Ayyanar and ₹ 4 lakh to Muniyasamy. The compensation awarded by the tribunal was challenged before the court.
The appellant insurance company had contended that even assuming that the claimants are loadmen, unless they have travelled in the cabin of the lorry, the insurance company cannot be called upon to pay compensation for the injury or the death caused by an accident. In other words, when the claimants admittedly have travelled on the top of the vehicle over the goods, the company is not liable to pay any compensation, it was submitted.
Justice R. Vijayakumar observed that a combined reading of the Rules 238 to 241 of the Tamil Nadu Motor Vehicles Rules clearly indicate that there is no absolute prohibition for the travelling of a person on the goods in a goods carriage provided that in a sitting position, the height does not exceed 300 cm from the road.
Therefore, it is clear that when a person travels in a goods carriage and on the goods as a loadman and in a sitting position and the height does not exceed 300 cm from the road, the same can never be construed as a statutory violation. Hence, the contention of the appellant insurance company that if a loadman had travelled on the goods, it would have amounted to statutory violation, is not legally sustainable, the court observed.
The court observed that the contention of the appellant that they are not liable to pay any compensation to the claimants in view of the fact that the insurance policy does not cover the loadmen is not legally sustainable in view of the additional premium paid by the insured person under the package policy. The court confirmed the compensation amount awarded by the tribunal.
Published - June 06, 2023 10:04 pm IST
