Gauhati HC: an insurer can't dispute a road-accident widow's payout on a technicality it never contested with evidence

The Gauhati High Court dismissed an insurance company's appeal against a motor-accident compensation award, holding that an insurer cannot resist paying by disputing a technical point on which it offered no evidence of its own. Anu Ullah Sk, a government Class IV employee, was riding his motorcycle to Lakhimpur in April 2015 when a truck struck him from behind, killing him on the spot. His widow and son were awarded about Rs. 24.5 lakh in compensation by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, which fixed his age at 46 to 50 years, and therefore a higher compensation multiplier, based on his Elector's Photo Identity Card, PAN card, school certificate and post-mortem report.

The insurance company appealed solely on the ground that his age should have been assessed differently based on his relatives' ages recorded in an unrelated certificate, without producing any counter-evidence of its own. Justice Mridul Kumar Kalita held that a claim under Section 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 need only be proved on the preponderance of probabilities, not to a stricter standard, and that the Tribunal was entitled to rely on the available identity and medical documents in the absence of any rebuttal evidence from the insurer. The appeal was dismissed and the award to the widow and son was left undisturbed.