Appeal Maintainable Against Order Of Motor Vehicle Tribunal Only When Disputed Amount exceeds Rs. One Lakh: Bombay HC
The High Court dismissed the appeal against an order of the Motor Vehicle Tribunal on the grounds that the disputed amount was less than 1 lakh and therefore as per the provisions of the MV Act, the appeal was not maintainable.
A Single Judge Bench of the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court comprising Justice Abhay Ahuja dismissed an appeal filed against an order of the Motor Vehicle Tribunal on the grounds that the amount in dispute was less than rupees one lakh.
The case pertained to a Motor Accident Claims Petition wherein the claimant had sought a sum of Rs. 5 lakhs for the injuries and permanent disablement caused to him due to the accident between the tractor trolly in which he was traveling and a truck which came and hit the tractor trolly from behind.
The appellant had also filed an application seeking compensation of Rs.25,000 under the principle of “No Fault Liability.” The tribunal passed an order directing the owner of the vehicle to pay a sum of Rs.25000, however, the tribunal said the insurance company would not be liable since the offending truck was being driven by a person who did not have a license. Being aggrieved by the exclusion of the insurance company to pay the amount, the claimant filed an appeal before the High Court.
The Advocate for the appellant, Vivek Awchatm, relied on the decisions of the Supreme Court and argued that the appeal is maintainable in as much as the orders passed by the Tribunal under Section 140 of the Motor Vehicle Act (M.V. Act) are appellable under Section 173 of the Act.
The court stated that there is no doubt that the order passed under Section 140 of the M. V. Act would be an award for the purposes of Section 173 of the Act and that ratio and the principles laid down in the decisions relied on, are good law and cannot be disputed.
However, the court said that “the question here is not whether the order passed by the Tribunal under Section 140 of the M. V. Act is appellable or not but the question that arises here is, whether the said order under Section 140 is subject to Section 173(2) of the M. V. Act”.
The court in its order referred to Section 172(2) and noted that no appeal shall lie against any award of a Claims Tribunal if the amount in dispute in appeal is less than One lakh rupees. The court pointed out that earlier the said amount was Rs. 10000 but after the amendment of 2019 the said amount was increased to Rs. 1 lakh.
Therefore, the Court while dismissing the appeal noted that
“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.”
When the advocate for the appellant submitted before the court that the appellant is a person who does not have many means and the dismissal of this appeal on a technical ground of maintainability would have an adverse effect, the court said
“In my view, the apprehension expressed by Mr. Awchat is misplaced, in as much as the award passed under Section 140 has been passed on the basis of prima facie findings of the Tribunal. The grounds taken up in this appeal can also be taken up before the passing of the final order while arguing the main claim before the Tribunal, which is still pending"
Case Title: Madhav Chattekar vs Mohammad Ali & Ors