BENGALURU: Noting that the Motor Vehicles Accident Claims Tribunals (MACT) are jumping to conclusions to determine compensation based on the disability stated by a medical officer, the Karnataka High Court said non-mention of the nature of injuries suffered or describing them simply as grievous or simple would not reflect that the Tribunals had applied their mind to the nature of injuries.
Justice CM Joshi made these observations while allowing partly the appeal filed by New India Assurance Co. Ltd., questioning award of Rs 10.11 lakh by the Tribunal in 2019 in favour of Ramesh of Aurad in Bidar district.
“The petitioner is entitled to a sum of Rs 4.54 lakh instead of Rs 10.11 lakh as total compensation along with interest at the rate of 6 per cent per annum from the date of petition till the date of deposit,” the court said, directing the registry to send a copy of the order to the Karnataka Judicial Academy for information in devising a training programme.
The court said it is necessary to note that the nature of injuries suffered by the petitioner has not been properly considered by the Tribunal, in the impugned judgment. In umpteen judgments of Tribunals, the high court observed that the nature of injuries and manner in which it would translate into functional disability are seldom discussed.
Tribunals are jumping to the conclusion on the basis of disability stated by a medical officer. Therefore, it is expected that the nature of injuries suffered and how it will translate into functional disability is to be stated, the court said.
It is also obvious that medical officers would give their opinion in respect of physical disability, but are not capable of giving functional disability. Therefore, officers manning the tribunals are to be sensitized with the requirements of mentioning the nature of injuries suffered, in the judgments. Without the description of injuries and co-relating it to the disability, it is not possible to infer that the tribunals had applied their mind to assess functional disability, the court said.