Motor Accident Claimants Have To Prove Case On Touchstone Of 'Preponderance Of Probabilities': Punjab & Haryana High Court
Punjab and Haryana High Court recently held that the claimants in the proceedings under Motor Vehicles Act 1988 need to prove their case on the touchstone of preponderance of probabilities.However, it denied the claim in the instant case while stating that the claimants had not been able to even 'remotely prove' the factum of accident against the alleged offending vehicle.The bench...
Punjab and Haryana High Court recently held that the claimants in the proceedings under Motor Vehicles Act 1988 need to prove their case on the touchstone of preponderance of probabilities.
However, it denied the claim in the instant case while stating that the claimants had not been able to even 'remotely prove' the factum of accident against the alleged offending vehicle.
The bench comprising Justice Alka Sarin was dealing with an appeal against the award passed by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Ambala whereby the claim petition filed by the claimant-appellants was dismissed.
The court observed that the entire story set up by the claimants seems improbable in as much as:
The person who was a witness to a serious accident and was stated to have chased the offending truck for 1½ kilometers to note down its registration number, would not inform the Police when admittedly he had a mobile phone and had been using the said mobile phone to talk to his family members from village Dhanas.
Moreover, the court noted that there was also nothing on record to show that the brother of the deceased, made any effort to inform the Police about the accident as narrated by PW-2. All these circumstances make claimant's side of the story, improbable.
There was also nothing on record to show that the brother of the deceased, on coming to know of the registration number of the offending truck from PW-2 Ravinder Kumar on 14.07.2014, made any effort to inform the Police about the factum of the accident as narrated by PW-2 Ravinder Kumar.
The trite of proving the case on the touchstone of preponderance of probabilities was not met in the instant case wherein the claimants have not been able to prove the factum of accident.
Consequently, the court dismissed the instant appeal finding no illegality or infirmity in the award passed by the Tribunal.
Case Title : Krishna Devi and Others v. Balvinder Singh and Others
Citation : 2022 LiveLaw (PH) 201