B.N.Srikrishna, L.S.Panta, JJ. - (1.) THE appellant is an insurance company which is aggrieved by the impugned judgment of the Division Bench of the High Court rendered in a Letters Patent Appeal.
(2.) THE respondent No. 1 (hereinafter referred to as 'the claimant') suffered an accident while travelling as a passenger in the bus of respondent No. 3, which met with an accident with another bus insured with the appellant insurance company. As a result of the said accident, there were serious injuries sustained by the claimant resulting in amputation of the right hand. Claimant filed a claim before the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal (hereinafter referred to as 'the Tribunal'), Namakkal and claimed compensation of Rs. 10,00,000.00 alleging negligence on the part of drivers of both the buses. THE Tribunal made an award of compensation of Rs. 4,50,000.00 under the following heads: JUDGEMENT_1398_ACJ_2006Html1.htm The appellant insurance company appealed against the award of the Tribunal along with the owner of the other bus that was involved in the accident. Another appeal was also filed by respondent No. 3 denying its liability in the matter. Learned single Judge of the High Court interfered with the award and reduced the compensation amount to Rs. 3,00,000.00 with interest at 12 per cent from the date of the petition. Apparently respondent No. 1-claimant was satisfied with the Tribunal's award as he did not file any appeal there against to the High Court. Nonetheless, being aggrieved by the single Judge's judgment, the claimant filed a Letters Patent Appeal before the Division Bench of the High Court. This appeal was allowed and by the impugned judgment the High Court has awarded total compensation amounting to Rs. 7,44,000.00 under different heads with a direction for payment of interest at 18 per cent from the date of petition. The appellant insurance company is aggrieved thereby and is in appeal before us. The issue that arises in this case is as to whether the Division Bench of the High Court was justified in increasing the compensation amount beyond the amount awarded by the Tribunal despite the fact that the award of the Tribunal was not at all challenged by the claimant. The only reason given by the Division Bench of the High Court for doing so is: "In this connection, we may observe that we are aware of the fact that we are enhancing the compensation even though the injured has not claimed it. But, the question is covered by catena of decisions justifying enhancement of compensation even in cases where the injured has not preferred an appeal, provided the circumstances of the case warrants the same."
(3.) TO say the least, this was a very facile way of interfering with the award when no interference was called for. We called upon the learned counsel on both sides to show us at least one case (out of the catena of judgments referred to in the impugned judgment) in support of this proposition. The learned counsel frankly confessed that there was none. On the other hand, learned counsel for the appellant drew our attention to the judgment of this court in Banarsi v. Ram Phal, (2003) 9 SCC 606, which supports the proposition that an appeal filed by the defendant laying challenge to the grant of a smaller relief, the plaintiff as a respondent cannot seek a higher relief if he had not filed an appeal on his own or had not taken any cross-objection. In the present appeal it would appear that claimant neither appealed against the award of compensation passed by the Tribunal, nor filed any cross-objection in the first appeal filed by the insurance company. Thus, we are satisfied that the Division Bench of the High Court wholly erred in increasing the compensation amount beyond the amount awarded by the Tribunal in the appeal filed by the insurance company (Sic. claimant). We have been taken through the records by the learned counsel on both the sides. While Claims Tribunal had awarded Rs. 40,000 towards 'medical expenses', the learned single Judge has quashed this award under this head on the ground that the medical expenses of the claimant were met by his employer. This position is not controverted by the learned counsel for the claimant before us. Under the head of 'pain and suffering', while the Tribunal awarded a sum of Rs. 1,00,000.00, the learned single Judge has reduced it to Rs. 30,000.00. We are not satisfied that there is any justifiable reason to make such a reduction nor do we see any reasoning in support, in the judgment of the learned single Judge. We are, therefore, satisfied that the payment under this head needs to be retained as in the award of the Tribunal. The compensation awarded under the head of 'permanent disability' is Rs. 1,25,000.00 in the award of the Tribunal. Having perused the judgment of the learned single Judge, we do not see any justifiable reason to reduce it to Rs. 75,000, nor is the learned counsel, for the appellant able to satisfy us on this count. We are of the view that there was no justification to interfere with the compensation awarded by the Tribunal except under the head of 'medical expenses'. In the result, we hold that the compensation to be awarded to the claimant, the respondent No. 1, shall be as under: JUDGEMENT_1398_ACJ_2006Html2.htm This amount shall be payable to the claimant together with interest at the rate of 12 per cent per annum from the date of claim petition.;