Date:06/12/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/12/06/stories/2008120660260300.htm

New Delhi

Court upholds compensation order

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Friday upheld a judgment by a Motor Accident Claims Tribunal here awarding a compensation of Rs.20.5 lakh to the family of a Maruti Udyog Limited employee who was killed when his two-wheeler hit a stationary vehicle in 1996.

The judgment came on an appeal by the National Assurance Company Limited opposing the award of compensation on the ground that the amount was very high since the tribunal had wrongly taken into consideration that the deceased was receiving Rs.4,000 per month as production incentive.

The insurance company argued that the widow and the children of the deceased were getting family pension. Moreover, the widow had got a job in Maruti Udyog on compassionate grounds. It further submitted that the driver of the offending vehicle was not holding a valid and effective driving licence at the time of the accident.

Justice V.B. Gupta in his judgment said: “I do not find any reason to disagree with the findings on the ground of the driver of the offending vehicle not holding a valid licence as the onus to prove it was on the insurance company, and it had failed.”