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It is the duty of the Tribunal to ensure that the injured boy is paid the compensation, which is just and reasonable. This was held in the judgment passed by a single judge bench comprising of HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE SANJAY DHAR, in the matter National Insurance Company Ltd. V. Umar Ghulam Zargar and ors. [CMAM No. 52/2010], dealt with an issue where the petitioner filed a petition the instant appeal on the grounds that the compensation has been awarded without any basis and without any independent evidence on record and that penal rate of interest could not have been awarded, as the said practice has been deprecated by the Hon’ble Supreme Court.

Findings of the Tribunal as regards the occurrence and liability of the appellant insurance company to indemnify the insured have not been challenged by the appellant insurance company. The passenger vehicle in question was being driven in a rash and negligent manner by its driver at the time of the accident. The injured was immediately rushed to District Hospital. The injuries caused to the respondent No. 1 herein had serious consequences to him, as he slipped into coma and became bed ridden. The injured ultimately was declared 100% permanently disabled by the doctor.

The Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Srinagar,on a claim petition filed by the injured through his father, passed an award of ₹18, 55,000/- in favour of the injured with a further direction that out of the aforesaid amount, an amount of ₹18, 30,000/- shall be paid by the insurer/appellant herein, whereas the balance amount shall be paid by the driver of the offending vehicle. The Tribunal also awarded interest @ 6% from the date of presentation of the claim petition till final realization of the awarded amount and in case, the amount is not realized within two months from the date of the award, the rate of interest shall be payable @ 9% from the date of default.

After hearing both sides, the Hon’ble High Court of Jammu and Kashmir dismissed the petition and held that the impugned award passed by the learned Tribunal, except to the extent of awarding of interest at the enhanced rate of 9% per annum, is upheld as the as the laid down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court has clearly stated the power the Tribunal has, while awarding enhanced rate of interest in case of default in payment of the awarded sum, it exceeded its jurisdiction and to this extent, the award deserves to be modified. It also held there is no doubt in the mind of the court that the amount of compensation awarded by the Tribunal in favour of the injured is based on evidence on record and the same is not exorbitant. In fact, having regard to the nature of the injuries suffered by the injured, the compensation awarded by the Tribunal in favour of the injured is on a lower side.

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Judgement reviewed by – Vaishnavi Raman