Karnataka high court rejects insurer's appeal, directs it to pay 70% of revised compensation amount
"Merely making allegations without substantiating the same with cogent evidence would not serve the purpose," observed the division bench, comprising Justices KS Mudagal and MGS Kamal.
The tragic case revolves around 23-year-old Bipin from Bengaluru, who lost his life on March 6, 2016. At 1.45am, he was riding his motorbike near a railway bridge on Bengaluru-Ballari main road when he collided with a lorry parked along the road.
A second, unidentified vehicle then struck him, resulting in fatal injuries.
Bipin's parents, N Nagesh and Vedavati Bai, sought Rs 2 crore in compensation. In 2018, the tribunal awarded them Rs 9,74,000 with 6% interest, placing the blame squarely on the negligent parking of the lorry.
Insurance company HDFC Ergo, however, challenged the order. The insurer argued the policy commenced only on March 7, 2016 — a day after the accident — and labelled the policy document produced by the claimants as "fraudulent."
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The bereaved parents also appealed, contesting the tribunal's decision to consider Bipin's monthly income as only Rs 9,000.
The high court, however, found no documentary evidence to support the parents' income claim and relied instead on Karnataka State Legal Services Authority's chart that pegged the notional income at Rs 9,500 for 2016.
Crucially, the insurer also failed to back up its serious claim about a fraudulent policy.
"Since the respondent-insurance company has taken a specific and serious stand of the lorry owner obtaining a fake policy, it ought to have discharged the burden in the manner known to law," the judges stressed.
Maintaining the tribunal's finding that the lorry driver was 70 per cent at fault, while the remaining 30 per cent was of the unidentified vehicle, the high court revised the compensation amount to Rs 15,79,400. The insurance company has been ordered to pay Rs 11,05,580, enhancing the compensation by Rs 1,31,580.
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