Motor Vehicle Accident Claims

Everyday new vehicles are getting registered and new faster vehicles are entering the market. The road space is getting crowded and the development in infrastructure is not able to keep pace with the growing demand of space on roads. The other aspect of this is in terms of increased number of accidents in road accidents and more fatalities. In every accident resulting in death there is a loss of near or dear ones but in some cases financial burden on the surviving family member may lead to more problems, especially so if he was the sole earning member in the family .

In every motor vehicle accident resulting in serious injury or death a criminal case is lodged by the police and is pursued by the state in which the surviving members of the family has no say. Therefore, there is an urgent need for the act to be amended and in all such criminal cases the surviving member should be a party in case if it wishes to. Besides these criminal and civil case if any lodged in the criminal or civil courts the accident victim/legal heirs/ surviving members of the family or a third party whose property was damaged have a right to approach, under section 166 of Motor Vehicles Act 1988, the Motor Accident Claim Tribunal which has the jurisdiction over the area where the accident took place or where the claimant resides or carries out his business or where the defendant resides. The decision in these cases in the tribunal is quick and the compensation is awarded by the tribunal which is paid by the insurance company. It is therefore, important that the insurance company should be made a party in such proceedings. Following persons can make a complaint for compensation in the tribunal:-

(a)    By a person who sustained injury.

(b)   By the owner of property.

(c)    Where death has resulted by all or the legal representative of the deceased.

(d)   By any agent duly authorized by the person or all or any of the legal representatives.

The Tribunal can adjudicate upon claims for compensation when the accident involves death of a person or bodily injuries to a person or damage to any property of a third person or both and when the accident arose out of the use of motor vehicle.These tribunals are located in every district in the district civil courts.

Supreme Court in Civil Appeal number 9858 of 2013 arising out of SLP(c) 1056 of 2008 dated 31 Oct 2013 have in order to streamline and standardize the compensation to be paid to the victim, laid down clear cut guidelines and table showing how the compensation is to be calculated. It can be 18 times the income of the deceased after taking into account the money spent on self maintenance for a young person to almost to five times in case the age is between 66 to 70 years but above seventy is it not specified and considered to be zero. Hence a person above seventy years of age will not be able to claim any compensation from the insurance company through tribunal. It involves a three step process:-

1.       Firstly ascertain the multiplicand. In this the income of the deceased is determined and deductions out of this to be made which the person would have spent on himself by way of personal and living expenses. The balance is considered to be the family corpus. Income tax returns can be used  to justify the income and have been accepted in some cases by the courts  and tribunal

2.      Ascertain the Multiplier. A table has been prepared by the supreme court where the multiplier is specified with reference to the age of the deceased and should be used to calculate the multiplier. It is 18 for an age group from 15 to 25 and is then reduced by one point for every five years that is 17 for 26 to 30 years and so on till 50 years of age. After that it is reduced by five points for each five year period till it is 5 for 66 to 70 years age group.

1.      This multiplier is multiplied to the multiplicand to arrive at a figure to be awarded to the family by the tribunal and is paid by the insurance company through which the vehicle is insured. If the award is more than the insurance or there is no insurance or insufficient insurance then the balance or full award is to be paid by the owner of the vehicle.

       No amount of money can bring back the dead but at least the compensation will help the family to get back on its feet and survive.

Doklam Issue- A Different Perspective

For nearly three month Indian and Chinese armed forces sat facing each other on the Doklam plateau. China conducted live fire exercises in Tibet and neighboring areas and India increased the presence of its armed force in Sikkim and other areas. There was big cry in China for teaching India a lesson and almost daily threats were issued by the Chinese press in giving India a few days to a weeks’ time o withdraw its forces. India retaliated by maintaining that the issue is to be solved by talks but kept and increased is forces in the area. There was big cry in India to boycott the Chinese goods and take action against the Chinese companies as retaliatory measure but India kept on insisting that the issue to be resolved by talks. There was international response to this issue in terms of support to India to urging the Chinese government to solve the issue through talks. Finally after the NSA level talks the statement was issued that both countries will withdraw their forces to the earlier levels. China issued the statement that it will continue to patrol the Doklam plateau and India that the plateau is a disputed territory and will be solved by mutual talks.

A least this is the official version and both countries are claiming that they have won and their stand has been validated. If both the countries have won then who lost. In any game of one up man ship there is always a winner and a loser, but here it is not so and both have won. This leads one to suspect that if both won then there is a third party which must have lost and this whole show was stage managed from the very beginning and the citizens of India, China and the world were mere spectators. Only the tax payers’ money was lost in the movement and maintenance of Indian forces and the same goes for Chinese with an addition of wastage of its ammunition used in live demonstration.

Let us look at some of the facts of the past. Chinese premier is about to go in for his second term and he is facing a lot of flank from the hardliners in the communist party. Recently the Indian opposition to the road link and the growing Indian influence is making his election for another term that much harder. The CPEC passing through POK and the Baluchistan is not doing well either. The leasing of Gawadar port to the Chinese and CPEC combine is causing worries among the citizens of Pakistan that with this growing influence and with the debt mounting, the day is not far when the china will demand it pound of flesh and may take over Pakistan if not physically but economically in order to protect its investments in Pakistan.

It is in India’s interest that the hardliners or hawks in china do not take over and Xi-Ping gets another term as its premier not only from stability point of view, but economically to both India and China and also for the success and growth of BRICS. How do you silence the hawks in China? By simply playing their card and escalating the tension on some issue on the border like Doklam and making noises like two dogs trying to scare each other and after some time knowing full well that international pressure and economic issues will force the hawks to agree to a more balanced approach. This is what exactly happened and the curtains on this drama will come down once Xi- Ping gets its second term as premier of China. The whole drama was played in which both the countries played their part with the full knowledge and understanding as to what will be the outcome and this is how both Mr. Narendra Modi and Mr. Xi- Ping can claim that both have won and the citizens were just an spectator to the whole drama.

Qutab Minar- Myths and Facts

As per Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) Qutab Ud-din-Aibak laid the foundation of Qutab Minar in 1199 AD and raised the first story to which were added three more stories by his successor and son in law Shamsu Ud-Din-Iltatmish (1211-1236 AD).  Firoz Shah Tuglak constructed the fifth and last storey. Authors differ on this and some claim that the foundation was laid in 1193AD while others claim that it was laid in 1198AD or even in 1200AD. Restoration work was done in 12^th century, 14^th century and 19^th century. It is a six storey, 72.5 meter tall tower made of red and buff sand stone and marble. The first three stories are made of red and buff sandstone while the remaining three are made of red sands stone and marble. Diameter at the base is 14.3 meters and 2.7 meters at the top. It is leaning 5 degrees to the north and on 21 Jun its shadow does not go out of its round base. There are 379 stairs inside the tower to reach the top with 27 windows.

The land on which Qutab Minar is situated belonged to the Tomar Rajputs and Chauhans and it was given to Prithviraj Chauhan by his grandfather Arkpal Tomar. Mohammad-bin-sau (Mohammad Ghori) attacked Prithviraj in 1191 AD and was defeated by him and returned back to his capital Lahore. He attacked Prithviraj Chauhan again in 1192 AD and defeated him in the battle near Panipat and thus acquired the lad on which Qutab Minar is situated. His capital was Lahore and he ruled till 1206 AD. Qutab Ud-din-Aibak was one of the commanders of Mohd Ghori and therefore could not have started the qutab minar in his name as long as Ghori was alive. He was appointed as Ghori’s deputy in 1206 .He ascended the throne in 1206AD after Ghori’s death and till 1208 he was deeply involved in the inner struggle to consolidate his rule over the empire left by Ghori. He died in 1210 while playing polo in Lahore and it is believed that he never came to Delhi. Therefore, it is prudent to assume that if he constructed the qutab minar then he would have done so after 1208 to 1210 AD only and in Lahore but not in Delhi which he never visited. It is also not possible for the minar to be erected in two ears only.

An inscription in Persian at the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque’s inner eastern gateway in the complex states the construction was done by salvaging the material from the demolition of 27of Delhi’s Hindu and Jain temples.    Pillars from these temples were used in the mosque with their iconography intact. It is also said the there were 27 Hindu and Jain temples in the same complex of the minar which were demolished and the remains of some of them can still be seen in the complex. The Minar has 27 windows from which you can see the ground as well as sky and the base has 27 conical edges and 27 circular areas. The windows have large openings inside but taper to small openings as you go out. The area also contains a iron pillar called the Garuda flag, which does not rust and was established by Chandragupta Vikramditya in 380-414AD much before Ghori even came to India. The saying goes hat anyone who can circumvent the pillar with both of his hands while standing with his back to the pillar will be a Chakravarti Samrat. It is not correct to assume that only this pillar was established and nothing else. Therefore, it stands to reason that there must be other structures surrounding or in the same complex and thus the storey that there were 27 temples in the complex which were demolished appears to be true and the inscription also refers to the same 27 temples which were in the same complex.

The area is called Mehrauli now and was said to be established by one of the navratna’s in the court of Chandra Gupta Vikramaditya called Varah Mihir, who was a great astronomer. In his honor the area was named as Mihirvali and was later distorted to read as Mehrauli. It is also ironical that there are 27 constellations in our astronomy and there were 27 temples in the same complx and 27 windows from which one can look up in the sky and study it along with 27 conical edges and 27 circular ones. This 27 is repeating again and again in the minar's structure and it cannot be a coincidence but points to only direction that the whole complex including the minar was an astronomical observatory during the period of Chandragupta Vikrmaditya, which was later destroyed by the invader and claimed as their own.

Schools Are Service Providers Under consumer Protection Act

In various judgements the National Commission set up under consumer protection act has held that if the student is paying the school fees then the student is a consumers under the section 2 of consumer protection act 1985 and the school is a  service providers. This implies that the students or his parents have a right to approach and file a complaint with the consumer forum if there is deficiency in service. In another judgement the apex body has also held that the complaint under consumer protection act does not override or make the civil or criminal complaint redundant but both can run simultaneously. It simply implies that a complaint in deficiency of service can be filed to claim compensation and mental harassment even though there is a civil or criminal complaint on the same issue or is likely to be filed. This is very important information for all the parents/students studying in school, colleges, etc.

In a recent judgement by the Maharashtra state commission has awarded a compensation of Rs.2.5 Lacs to a 14 years old student of a prestigious school where the arm of the student was fractured during a shuffle with another student and no teacher was present. It has held that the school is a service provider and the student a consumer under the consumer protection act 1985.

Taking a step further it will imply that wherever a fee or subscription is paid to the organization for providing a service then the organization can be termed as a service provider under the consumer protection act and a complaint for compensation, damages can be filed in the consumer forums.