‘Misled’ HC bench apologises to claims tribunal

 

Mumbai: The Bombay high court recently apologised to the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) of Pune for taking a harsh stand against it while hearing an appeal filed by a father-son duo

Mumbai: The Bombay high court recently apologised to the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) of Pune for taking a harsh stand against it while hearing an appeal filed by a father-son duo. Based on the statements of the lawyers of the claimant that the tribunal had failed to remit the ₹30 lakh awarded to their client since 2019, the bench had chided the tribunal for the delay. However, after the bench was informed that the amount had been transferred to the bank account of one of the claimants and an application for releasing the fund had been made only on October 10, 2022, the HC said it was dismayed and disappointed with the falling standards of law firms, as they had misled it.

The division bench of Justice Gautam Patel and Justice Gauri Godse, while hearing the appeal filed by Girish Nair and his son Gautam Nair against an insurance company, had been informed by advocate Yashshree Munde that though another bench of HC had directed MACT Pune to remit the amount in February 2019, the tribunal had failed to comply with the order till September 2022.

In an earlier hearing on September 22, the bench had directed MACT Pune to remit the amount. However, in the next hearing it was informed that MACT Pune had declined to make the remittance, and had insisted on a personal undertaking from the claimants and the personal presence of Gautam Nair, which was not possible as he was in the United States. The bench had then expressed its displeasure with the functioning of MACT Pune and sought an explanation from the registrar of the tribunal.

During the hearing on October 19, the assistant registrar of MACT informed the bench that neither had MACT Pune ever refused to remit the funds nor had it insisted on the personal presence of Gautam Nair nor an undertaking by him. The court was also told that the amount of ₹30 lakh had been remitted by MACT Pune to the bank account of Gautam. The MACT assistant registrar informed the bench that there was an application dated October 10, 2022, filed by the father for withdrawal of the fund which was accompanied by his own undertaking.

Thereafter, advocate Anil Patani, who was the advocate for the father-son duo, informed the bench through advocate Yogesh Pande that he had addressed an email to Nair as well as Munde, informing them that the HC bench had been misled as no application for withdrawal was ever made to MACT Pune from 2019 to October 10, 2022.

In light of the above, the bench noted in its order, “This means that from February 13, 2019, until we intervened, the advocates for the claimants in the First Appeal had done absolutely nothing. This reflects very poorly on the law firm engaged by the claimants in the First Appeal. We are wholly unable to understand how this delay from February 2019 onwards could be said to be in the service of the claimants.”

The court said it was dismayed and disappointed with the law firm and added, “We express our regret and convey our apologies to the Assistant Registrar, MACT Pune. We were misled as to the actual circumstances. A copy of this order will, as a matter of courtesy, be conveyed by the Registrar Judicial - I to the Assistant Registrar, MACT Pune.”