MACT appeal ... and something on Goa

Any comments or observations on this photo ?

Two months. 38 teams. Three Groups- Plate, Elite Group C & Group A & B. 169 four-day games, and it took the final day of the league-stage to decide the quarterfinalists of the 2019-20 edition of what has been a fascinating season of Ranji Trophy cricket.   To enthuse more interest into it -  most of the high-profile teams like Mumbai, Delhi, defending champions Vidarbha, Tamil Nadu have all failed to make it to the final eight, a testimony to the level of competitiveness of India’s premier domestic tournament.

In the 1^st Quarter finals at Valsad on Feb 20, Gujarat would play Goa ! -  Goan Wicket keeper would be Smit Kamleshbhai Patel, who led India U19 in 2012 – he has played for Gujarat, West zone, Tripura and now Goa.  The other QF matches would be : J&K V Karnataka; Bengal V Odisha and Saurashtra V Andhra.  A couple of years back, when Goa played Hyderabad at Porvorim, the selection of Asaduddin raised eye-brows as many in Goa resented that he was pushed to the arena by his father Mohammad Azharuddin.

Calangute is a town in North Goa, famous for its beach. The beach is the largest in North Goa and visited by thousands of domestic and international tourists alike. The baga beach offers water sport activities like parasailing and water skiing, among others.  Goa State lies  within the region known as the Konkan, and geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is surrounded by  Maharashtra, Karnataka & Arabian Sea. Panaji is the state's capital, while Vasco da Gama is its largest city. The historic city of Margao still exhibits the cultural influence of the Portuguese, who first landed in the early 16th century as merchants and conquered it soon thereafter.  In the 3rd century BC, Goa was part of the Maurya Empire, ruled by the Buddhist emperor, Ashoka of Magadha. In 1510, the Portuguese defeated the ruling Bijapur sultan Yusuf Adil Shah and   set up a permanent settlement in Velha Goa.  After India gained independence from the British in 1947, India requested that Portuguese territories on the Indian subcontinent be ceded to India. Portugal refused to negotiate on the sovereignty of its Indian enclaves. On 19 Dec 1961, the Indian Army ensured annexation of Goa by  Operation Vijay.   

Recently, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant played Good Samaritan by attending to an accident victim who was lying on the road at Khandepar near Ponda town. Mr Sawant instructed his driver to stop the carcade when he saw that a man had fallen on the roadside after having met with an accident.  It was stated that the man, who had been riding a two-wheeler, was lying in a pool of blood.  On the Chief Minister's orders, one of the escort vehicles rushed the injured man to a state-run hospital in Ponda town. 

In case you had not observed that in the photo – some of them are commercial vehicles – ‘scooters on rent’ – given on hire.  At Goa, tourists can hire two-wheelers and cars and roam around the city.  Last month, there was a road accident – hours after a woman tourist from Maharashtra died in a road accident on a major bridge near Panaji as her scooter collided with a four-wheeler, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant  wondered why tourists who cannot even drive hire self-driven vehicles.  Self-driven vehicles offered on hire are popular with tourists in Goa, who prefer to hire and drive two wheelers and cars by the day, in order to avoid expensive taxi drivers.    Media reports stated that increasing number of accidents on Goan roads has emerged as a cause for concern in Goa, forcing the state traffic police to crack down severely on errant driving practices.

Insurers are always worried about road accidents and the ensuing liabilities .. . Here is something on an Appeal preferred by United India. The insurer took exception to the judgment by MACT in Nov 2018 questioning the quantum of compensation awarded.   It was a petition filed on a fatal accident and the MACT awarded compensation of Rs.14,40,800/- with interest thereon at 9% per annum jointly and severally on all Respondents including the Insurers.

Filing an appeal, the Insurers contended that there was no material placed on record on behalf of the respondents to establish the employment of the deceased nor was any muster roll placed on record despite the examination of the so called employer. The said respondents had also not placed any bank passbook on record and therefore, there was no basis for the learned MACT to fix the income of the deceased at `9,000/- per month and award the compensation as it did. They  placed reliance in Rani Vs. National Insurance company Ltd. and others,{Civil Appeal Nos. 9078 - 9079 of 2017}, to buttress his contention that in the absence of any proof of income, the learned Tribunal was in error to fix the income of the deceased at `9000/- per month.

However, the Court decreed that MACT had considered   the fact that the deceased was employed as a pump attendant proved from the examination of the Petrol Pump owner and on that basis took the proved income of the deceased at `9000/- per month. It considered the other judgment of the Hon’ble Apex Court in National Insurance Company Limited Vs. Pranay Sethi and Ors. {2017 SCC OnLine SC 1270} and on that basis applying the multiplier of 18 computed the compensation at `14,40,800/-.   The Honble High Court opined that there was nothing amiss in the judgment of  MACT in awarding the compensation as it did either while accepting the income of the deceased and applying the rate of interest to the case at hand. Therefore, the Court considered that  no interference is called for with the judgment under challenge. The Appellate Court passed award confirming the earlier award of MACT  and went on record stating : ‘ It goes without saying that the appeal does not survive and is hereby dismissed with no orders as to costs’. 

In case you are further interested in knowing the above is a recent judgement of Bombay High Court Bench at Goa.  The Bombay High Court  is one of the oldest High Courts of India. It’s jurisdiction covers the states of Maharashtra and Goa, and the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. The High Court has regional branches at Nagpur and Aurangabad in Maharashtra and Panaji, the capital of Goa.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

16^th Feb 2020.