Uncorroborated Charge-Sheet Against Deceased Maruti Driver Couldn’t Defeat Crash Compensation, Gujarat HC Holds

On 5 November 2001, a collision between a tractor and a Maruti car killed two car occupants and injured another.

The claimants sought compensation, and the Tribunal found that the tractor driver’s sudden stoppage caused the accident.

The insurer appealed, disputing negligence and the compensation awarded. It argued that the deceased car driver had contributed to the accident, relying on the injured occupant’s claim petition and a charge-sheet filed against the deceased driver.

The judgment cites no statute or precedent. It applies evidentiary principles concerning negligence: a charge-sheet against a deceased driver, whose statement was not recorded, does not by itself establish negligence and must be corroborated by other evidence.

The court also treated the failure to challenge a witness’s account through cross-examination and the non-examination of the tractor driver—an available source of evidence—as relevant to assessing the negligence evidence.

The injured occupant testified for the claimants, and the insurer did not put to him the suggestion that the tractor had neither stopped suddenly nor turned suddenly. The tractor driver was not examined, leaving the Tribunal without the best evidence from that driver about the accident.

The court therefore upheld the finding that the tractor driver was responsible. It rejected reliance on the charge-sheet because the deceased car driver’s statement had not been recorded and no other evidence established his negligence.

On quantum, it found the awards just and proper, including the assessment of the deceased’s income, and noted that the claimants had not appealed.

It dismissed both appeals.