Manifold Advisory

Duty of Insuere to satisfy the judgment (award) by MACT court. The third-party case is brought into the court by the victim himself or by their legal heirs (called the plaintiff) and it is against the owner of vehicle, driver who has caused the accident and insurer (if vehicle is insured), all these three are called as a defendant as they are to answer they are to defend the case and they are required to submit the written statement in the court after receipt of summon issued by the court. The claimant side will submit police records, panchnama, copy policy, post-mortem report, medical bills, discharge summary, doctors’ certificates for injury or disablement, seizure memo, etc., and will also bring witnesses to prove his case. The onus of proof is on the claimant to prove that he has suffered injury/death/property damage etc in an accident with the alleged vehicle and whether that vehicle is insured or not is to be told to the court. When opposite parties (defendants) are issued summons they are supposed to submit in writing (Written Statement) by saying yes or no to the plaintiff’s allegation. What has been agreed by the defendants is dropped and what is disputed becomes the issue to be heard by the Judge during the court’s proceedings from time to time. When the case is over, the judgment is given, and the award is decided by the court by referring to common law, by referring to the law of tort, by referring to the Motor Vehicle Act, and also by referring the previous judgments, leading cases decided by the Higher Courts and also by using the principles of Accessibility, Uniformity and Predictability, The award should be fair and just and should be uniform for all, proper assessment is to be done, predictability means victims future is also to be seen. So considering all these points, the judgment is pronounced and the award is given which is to be collected within 15 days from the date of the award and its payment is to be given within 30 days of the announcement of judgment. The last line of judgment is “that all the parties are liable to pay as jointly and severally” which means anyone from the defendant side can pay the award or all the parties can pay the award, we know very well that once the vehicle is insured the amount is paid by the insurer only. If the defendant side wishes to appeal, they may do so and can go to the High Court within 90 days of the judgment date to do so, they are required to pay 250000 of the award amount to the lower court or 50% of awarded amount whichever is low and then only they can go to appeal in the High Court against the award passed by the lower court (MACT). The defendant side means owner driver and insurance company. These three can go to appeal jointly against claimants, however, the scene is that the driver and owner hardly take interest in the case and they do not cooperate or come and attend the court as and when required, so ultimately insurance company alone is going into appeal in the High Court. Insurance companies can not go alone unless they prove that the driver and owner are not cooperating and they are colluding against the insurance company. Insurance Companies knew this fact and hence in the beginning while they submitted Written Statements they took permission to file an appeal independently without the driver and owner of the vehicle under section 170 of the MV Act, if they failed to do so, then the appeal can not be filed as a single party. Having granted permission under section 170 in advance, now insurers can move and file all-alone appeals to Higher Courts (High court and Supreme Courts). This appeal is to be filed under section 173. Appeal from High Court to Supreme Court shall be filed within 30 days which please note.