Nearly 10 years after a 25-year-old Army officer lost his life in a road accident, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled that the amount paid under a group insurance scheme could not have been deducted from compensation awarded under the Motor Vehicles Act.
The ruling came after the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal at Kurukshetra reduced the compensation payable to the deceased officer’s family from Rs 98.43 lakh to Rs 38.43 lakh by deducting the Rs 60 lakh received under the group insurance scheme.
The matter came up before Justice Pankaj Jain on an appeal filed in 2018 by the claimant seeking enhancement of the compensation awarded by the tribunal. During the hearing, the court was informed that while the tribunal had assessed compensation at Rs 98.43 lakh, it had reduced the payable amount to Rs 38.43 lakh after deducting the insurance payout.
Deciding the eight-year-old appeal in a single hearing, Justice Jain drew a distinction between benefits received under a group insurance scheme and financial assistance extended by the state under service rules.
After hearing rival submissions, Justice Jain ruled that the amount paid to the deceased Army officer’s family under the group insurance scheme could not be deducted from the compensation payable under the Motor Vehicles Act.
The Bench held that the tribunal erred in deducting Rs 60 lakh received under the scheme while determining compensation for the officer’s death in the road accident on September 13, 2016.
In his detailed judgment, Justice Jain observed: “The group insurance scheme cannot be related to financial assistance given by the state under Service Rules, wherein the compensation is paid by the insurer after receiving premium.”
Holding that the deduction could not be sustained, the Bench ruled: “This court finds that the tribunal erred in deducting amount of Rs 60 lakh from the compensation awarded. Accordingly, the award to that effect is set aside.”
Allowing the appeal to that extent, the high court restored the Rs 60 lakh deducted by the tribunal. Justice Jain also noted that the tribunal had not awarded compensation towards loss of consortium or loss of estate.
“Nothing has been paid on account of loss of consortium and loss of estate, claimant is held entitled for amount of Rs 48,400 for loss of consortium and Rs 18,000 for loss of estate,” Justice Jain observed before parting with the order.
