The Supreme Court allowed the appeal filed by the claimants in a motor accident case and held that eyewitnesses to prove rash and negligent driving will not be available in all cases.

The claimants had approached the Apex Court challenging an order of the High Court which allowed the appeal of the insurance company and dismissed the claim petition for reason of no eyewitness having been examined to prove the rash and negligent driving.

On the issue of examining the eyewitnesses, the Division Bench of Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice K. Vinod Chandran said, “...such a witness will not be available in all cases.”

Factual Background

The accident occurred in the year 2015 when the deceased was travelling pillion in a motorbike driven and owned by the second respondent. The FIR was lodged against the owner-driver of the vehicle for the offence of rash and negligent driving. A charge sheet was filed against the owner-driver. The owner driver filed a written statement before the Tribunal denying the rash and negligent driving on his part, however, he did not mount the box to depose that it was not due to his fault that the accident occurred.

Reasoning

On a perusal of the facts of the case, the Bench held that the FIR having been lodged and the charge sheet filed against the owner driver of the offending vehicle, there could be no finding that negligence was not established.

Thus, setting aside the order of the High Court and restoring the order of the Tribunal, the Bench said, “We do not speak on the quantum, since there is no appeal filed by the claimants against the quantum as determined by the Tribunal.”

Allowing the appeal, it further held, “The amounts as directed by the Tribunal with interest at the rate of 7% per annum from the date of presentation of the claim petition, as directed by the Tribunal, shall be paid expeditiously by the insurance company.”

Cause Title: Meera Bai & Ors. v. ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Ltd. & Anr. (Neutral Citation: 2025 INSC 600)

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Justice Sudhanshu DhuliaJustice K. Vinod Chandran

Tulip Kanth

Assistant Editor

Tulip Kanth is an Assistant Editor at Verdictum having over 5 years of experience in the field of legal journalism and editing. She extensively covers judgments of the Supreme Court, High Courts as well as Tribunals. She has previously worked with a legal publishing website where she oversaw the work of other editors and has also created updates on notifications of different Government Ministries. She holds an English Honours Degree from SGTB Khalsa College, Delhi University and has completed her LLB course with specialisation in Corporate Law from Amity University.