A recent judgement by Supreme Court ruled that in the case of a person who dies in a road accident because of his own rash and negligent driving, his family members cannot claim third party insurance.
The bench of Justices N.V. Ramana and Justice S. Abdul Nazeer, however, said the deceased person was entitled to the compensation available under the insurance policy’s “personal accident” cover.
The supreme court put aside a judgement by Tripura High Court ordering the national insurance company to pay Rs 10.57 lakh to the deceased family member who died in an accident.
The supreme court ruling said “It is an admitted position that the deceased was the owner-cum-driver of the vehicle in question. The accident had occurred due to the rash and negligent driving of the vehicle by the deceased. No other vehicle was involved…. The deceased himself was responsible for the accident. The deceased being the owner of the offending vehicle was not a third party within the meaning of the (Motor Vehicles) Act…,”
Justice Abdul Nazeer said “A claimant, in our view, cannot maintain a claim on the basis of his own fault or negligence and argue that even when he himself may have caused the accident on account of his own rash and negligent driving, he can nevertheless make the insurance company pay for the same,”
“Therefore, the respondents (legal heirs of the deceased)… could not have maintained the claim petition filed under Section 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act.”
Pune365 speaks to citizens and experts to gauge their reaction to this ruling by the Supreme Court.
Kabir Barfe, Lawyer says The ruling should be implemented in the city as well, no claims should be passed without checking the CCTV footage. There are various cases where drivers violate traffic rules and drive and in such cases claims should definitely be denied. However, there are also some cases where claims are denied and they should not be due to injustice, therefore a professional accident attorney is needed to get the best remedy for the individual that has been in an unfortunate accident. Proving the cause of the accident is always challenging.
In this case, proving that the accident was a result of rash and negligent driving is a huge task as most of the cameras don’t work and finding eye-witnesses is very difficult.
In my opinion, this ruling should be enforced all over, so at least with the fear, people would stop violating traffic rules and ensure their own safety, Barfe added.
Barkha Gomes, Restaurant owner says, The judgement is not in favour of citizens.
We pay so much to these insurance companies for years together and if they can’t pay in the case of death, then what is the point in opting for insurance and paying premiums.
Whatever may be the cause of accident, if an individual has a valid insurance policy, the company should be made liable to pay the family.
The rule for having insurance is mandatory all over the country and the sole reason why people opt for insurance, is that the company will help their family after the death of an individual. To support individuals in situations like this, it is crucial that you have picked an inurance comapny who can offer the relevant services. Where most people like to have traditional insurance, some drivers decide to have TruStage auto insurance instead. Through reading these trustage auto insurance reviews by Robert Truly could help anyone who is in need of insurance make the decision that is the right one for them.
If the company is allowed to deny the compensation, signing up for insurance should not be mandatory.
SC verdict in favour of an insurance company can be used by insurance companies now to reject various claims and several families may suffer, says Rajeev Mehta, a software professional.
Ruchira Thappa, Engineer says, “Implementation of strict laws are essential in our country to curb the menace of rash driving.
An accident may happen due to negligence on the drivers part, however, the whole concept of insurance is that when a person dies in an accidental death, the family of the deceased will be paid compensation.”
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#All views are those of the respondents and Pune365 does not necessarily subscribe to them.
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