Open iDraf
Sadhana Lodh v. National Insurance Company Ltd.

Sadhana Lodh
v.
National Insurance Company Ltd.

(Supreme Court Of India)

Civil Appeal No. 557 Of 2003 | 24-01-2003


Khare, CJI.

1. Leave granted.

2. The appellant's son, aged 24 years and drawing a sum of Rs.4,000/- per months, died in a motor vehicle accident. The appellant herein filed a claim petition before the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal (hereinafter referred to as "the Tribunal"). The Tribunal awarded a sum of Rs. 3,50,000/- as compensation. Aggrieved, the insurer, who is respondent No.1 herein, filed a writ petition under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India before the Guwahati High Court. A learned Single Judge of the High Court dismissed the writ petition. Aggrieved, the insurer preferred a Letters Patent Appeal before the Division Bench of the High Court. Before the High Court, the claimant took an objection that since petition under Article 226/227 is not maintainable, therefore, the appeal is totally misconceived and the same deserves dismissal on that ground alone. However, the Division Bench of the High Court, after overruling the objection allowed the appeal preferred by the insurer and reduced the compensation from Rs. 3,50,000/- to Rs. 3,00,000/- It is against the said judgment, the present appeal has been filed by way of special leave petition.

3. Learned counsel appearing for the appellant urged that in view of the fact that under Section 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (hereinafter referred to as " the"), a remedy by way of appeal to the High Court is available to the insurer against an award given by the Tribunal and, therefore, the filing of a petition under Article 227 of the Constitution was misconceived and deserved dismissal and the High Court ought not to have entertained and decided the writ petition on merits. We find merit in the submission.

4. It is not disputed that under Section 173 of the Act, an insurer has right to file an appeal before the High Court on limited grounds available under Section 149(2) of the. However, in a situation where there is a collusion between the claimant and the insured or the insured does not contest the claim and further if the Tribunal does not implead the insurance company to contest the claim, in such a situation it is open to an insurer to seek permission of the Tribunal to contest the claim on the ground available to the insured or to a person against whom a claim has been made. If permission is granted and the insurer is allowed to contest the claim on merit, in that case it is open to the insurer to file an appeal against the award of the Tribunal on merits. Thus, in such a situation, the insurer can question the quantum of compensation awarded by the Tribunal.

5. However, learned counsel for the respondent argued that since an insurer had limited grounds available under Section 173 of the Act, it is open to an insurer to file a petition under Article 226/227 of the Constitution.

6. The right of appeal is a statutory right and where the law provides remedy by filing an appeal on limited grounds, the grounds of challenge cannot be enlarged by filing a petition under Article 226/227 of the Constitution on the premise that the insurer has limited grounds available for challenging the award given by the Tribunal. Section 149(2) of thelimits the insurer to file an appeal on those enumerated grounds and the appeal being a product of the statute it is not open to an insurer to take any plea other than those provided under Section 149(2) of the(see National Insurance Co. Ltd. Chandigarh vs. Nicolletta Rohtagi and others (2002 (7) SCC 456 [LQ/SC/2002/977] ). This being the legal position, the petition filed under Article 227 of the Constitution by the insurer was wholly misconceived. Where a statutory right to file an appeal has been provided for, it is not open to High Court to entertain a petition under Article 227 of the Constitution. Even if where a remedy by way of an appeal has not been provided for against the order and judgment of a District Judge, the remedy available to the aggrieved person is to file a revision before the High Court under Section 115 of the Code of Civil Procedure. Where remedy for filing a revision before the High Court under Section 115 of CPC has been expressly barred by a State enactment, only in such case a petition under Article 227 of the Constitution would lie and not under Article 226 of the Constitution. As a matter of an illustration, where a trial Court in a civil suit refused to grant temporary injunction and an appeal against refusal to grant injunction has been rejected, and a State enactment has barred the remedy of filing revision under Section 115 C.P.C., in such a situation a writ petition under Article 227 would lie and not under Article 226 of the Constitution. Thus, where the State legislature has barred a remedy of filing a revision petition before the High Court under Section 115 C.P.C., no petition under Article 226 of the Constitution would lie for the reason that a mere wrong decision without anything more is not enough to attract jurisdiction of High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution.

7. The supervisory jurisdiction conferred on the High Courts under Article 227 of the Constitution is confined only to see whether an inferior court or Tribunal has proceeded within its parameters and not to correct an error apparent on the face of the record, much less of an error of law. In exercising the supervisory power under Article 227 of the Constitution, the High Court does not act as an Appellate Court or the Tribunal. It is also not permissible to a High Court on a petition filed under Article 227 of the Constitution to review or re-weigh the evidence upon which the inferior court or Tribunal purports to have passed the order or to correct errors of law in the decision.

8. For the aforesaid reasons, we are of the view that since the insurer has a remedy by filling an appeal before the High Court, the High Court ought not to have entertained the petition under Article 226/227 of the Constitution and for that reason, the judgment and order under challenge deserves to be set aside. We, accordingly, set aside the judgment and order under appeal. The appeal is allowed. There shall be no order as to costs.
9. However, it would be open to the insurer to file an appeal if it is permissible under the law.

Advocates List

For the Appellant Yashank Adhyaru, Sr. Advocate, Hiren Desan, Somik Deb, Sujit Kr. Dutta, Manoj Swarup, Advocates. For the Respondents Jitendra Sharma Sr. Adv., P.N. Jha, B.K. Pal, Advocates.

For Petitioner
  • Shekhar Naphade
  • Mahesh Agrawal
  • Tarun Dua
For Respondent
  • S. Vani
  • B. Sunita Rao
  • Sushil Kumar Pathak

Bench List

HON'BLE CHIEF JUSTICE V.N. KHARE

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE S.B. SINHA

HON'BLE DR. JUSTICE A.R. LAKSHMANAN

Eq Citation

2003 (1) UC 549

2003 -1-LW 815

[2003] 1 SCR 567

(2003) 3 SCC 524

AIR 2003 SC 1561

2003 ACJ 505

1 (2003) ACC 33 (SC)

2003 (3) ALD 63 (SC)

2003 (1) RCR (CIVIL) 772

2003 (1) AN.W.R. 373

JT 2003 (6) SC 126

2003 (2) ALT 38 (SC)

2003 (1) SCALE 739

(2003) SCC (CRI) 762

2003 (2) KLT 47

2003 (2) CHN 150

1 (2003) ACC 332

2003 (2) CTC 122

(2003) 1 MLJ 181

LQ/SC/2003/110

HeadNote

Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 — Ss. 173 & 149 — Appeal under S. 173 — When maintainable — Writ petition under Arts. 226 and 227 — When maintainable — Held, where a statutory right to file an appeal has been provided for, it is not open to High Court to entertain a petition under Art. 227 of Constitution — Even if a remedy by way of an appeal has not been provided for against the order and judgment of a District Judge, remedy available to aggrieved person is to file a revision before High Court under S. 115 of CPC — Where remedy for filing a revision before High Court under S. 115 of CPC has been expressly barred by a State enactment, only in such case a petition under Art. 227 of Constitution would lie and not under Art. 226 of Constitution — Thus, where State legislature has barred a remedy of filing a revision petition before High Court under S. 115 of CPC, no petition under Art. 226 of Constitution would lie for the reason that a mere wrong decision without anything more is not enough to attract jurisdiction of High Court under Art. 226 of Constitution — Constitution of India, Arts. 226, 227 and 227