Mother’s death in road accident: Karnataka HC tells children to recover ₹25 lakh compensation from ‘offender’ father

The High Court of Karnataka has said two children, both majors, will have to recover from their father the ₹25 lakh compensation, awarded by a tribunal for their mother’s death in a road accident, as the father’s negligence in driving the motorcycle had caused her death.

Justice Shivashankar Amarannavar passed the order while rejecting the appeals filed by the children seeking directions to the insurance company to pay the compensation to them as was awarded by the tribunal and recover the amount from their father, who owned the two-wheeler which was insured.

The tribunal, which had awarded compensation of ₹25 lakh with 6% interest to the children, had exonerated the insurance company from the liability while holding that the vehicle owner — the father of the claimant-children — must pay the compensation.

Upholding the tribunal’s order, the court noted that the accident occurred owing to the rash and negligent driving by the father. The chargesheet confirmed that he was not holding a valid driving licence at the time of the accident, with offences registered under Sections 279 and 304(A) of the Indian Penal Code.

The court ruled that the “pay and recover” principle cannot be applied in the presence case as the claimants’ own family member is the offender, as he had breached the term of the policy by driving the insured motorcycle without a valid driving licence.

Under the “pay and recover” principle, the insurance company must first pay the compensation amount to an innocent third-party accident victim. Then, the insurance company has the legal right to recover that same money from the vehicle owner or driver who had breached the conditions of the insurance policy.

Since the owner of the vehicle is the father of the claimants, the order of “pay and recovery” could not be applied and hence the tribunal has rightly exonerated the insurer from payment of compensation and asking the claimants to recover the compensation from the owner of the vehicle.