In FIRST APPEAL NO.521 of 202-BOM HC- No appeal is maintainable u/s 173 of Motor Vehicles Act unless amount involved in dispute is at least Rs 1 lakh: Bombay HC
Justice Abhay Ahuja [21-10-2022]

 

Read Order: MADHAV S/O VITTHAL CHATTEKAR v. MOHAMMAD ALI S/O MUBARIK AND ORS 

LE Correspondent

Nagpur, October 28, 2022:  There cannot be any doubt that the order passed under Section 140 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 would be an award for the purposes of Section 173, the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court has clarified.

Placing reliance upon section 173, Justice Abhay Ahuja asserted, “However, the sub-section (1) as observed above is subject to sub-section (2) which provides for a minimum amount involved in the dispute of One lakh rupees subject to which an appeal may be preferred. The provisions of Section 173 are quite clear. In my view, unless the amount involved in the dispute is atleast One lakh rupees, no appeal is maintainable under this provision of the M. V. Act.”

The Appellant- Claimant had filed the Motor Accident Claim Petition before the M.A.C.T. Kelapur under Section 166 of the M.V. Act, 1988 for grant of compensation of Rs 5 lakh for the injuries and permanent disablement caused to him due to the accident between the tractor trolly in which he was travelling and a truck which came and hit the tractor trolly from behind. 

The appellant claimed that he became permanently disabled and lost his working and earning capacity. The Appellant had made an application under Section 140 seeking compensation of Rs 25,000  under the principle of No Fault Liability.

The tribunal on the basis of prima facie findings that at the time of the accident, the offending truck was driven by a cleaner, who was not possessing a valid license to drive the truck, held that the truck owner but not the Insurance Company was liable to pay Rs 25,000 to the Appellant.

The Appellant had filed this appeal after being aggrieved by the exoneration of the Insurance Company.

Referring to section 173, the Bench made it clear that sub-section (2) of the said Section clearly provides that no appeal shall lie against any award of a claims Tribunal if the amount in dispute in appeal is less than Rs 1 lakh. 

Noting that the amendment to sub-section (2) had come into effect from September 1, 2019, the Bench observed that earlier the amount was Rs 10,000 and with effect from September 1, 2019, it was enhanced to Rs 1 lakh. 

As the impugned order was dated March 23, 2022 the Bench held that the enhanced amount of Rs 1 lakh would be applicable to the appeal that had been filed against the order.

The Bench affirmed that that no appeal would be maintainable, unless the amount involved in the dispute was atleast Rs 1 lakh. 

The appeal was thus held to be not maintainable as  the amount in dispute was Rs 25,000 which was below the threshold limit of Rs 1 lakh.  Dismissing the Appeal as not maintainable, Justice Ahuja granted  liberty to the appellant to take up the grounds taken in this appeal before the Tribunal.