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Reimbursement from Mediclaim policy cannot be deducted from the compensation granted by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal

In FIRST APPEAL NO. 1620 OF 2012, Royal Sundaram Alliance Insurance Co. Ltd. vs Mr.Ajit Chandrakant Rakvi, the Bombay High Court bench of Justice N.J.Jamadar was hearing an appeal filed against the award passed by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal on the grounds among others that the amount towards medical claim reimbursed should not have been taken into consideration while calculation of compensation under the Motor Vehicles Act as such amounts would result in a double benefit to the claimant. The Appellant asserted that the Tribunal had awarded the compensation under the medical head in the absence of any documentary evidence to prove the same. 

The court referred to judgment of the Supreme Court in Helen C. Rebello Vs. MSRTC AIR 1998 SC 3191 which stated that the amount received by the claimant on the life insurance of the deceased is not deductible from the compensation computed under the Act, the Tribunal held that the said principle applied even to the personal injury claim and thus did not allow the deduction. Further reference was made to various other judgments Vrajesh Navnitlal Desai Vs. K. Bagyam & Ors. 2006 ACH 65 (BOM.), Madhya Pradesh State Road Trans. Corporation Vs. Priyank Manu/MP/0436/1999, United India Insurance Co. Ltd. Vs. Anjana W/o. Nileshkumar Parmar & Anr. 2012(3) Mh.L.J. 914 and New India Assurance Company Limited Vs. Bimal Kumar Shah & Anr. 2018 SCC OnLine Cal. 10368. The Bench accordingly dismissed the appeal whilst observing that from this stand point, in the context of the distinction between the contractual liability under the contract of insurance (medical) and the statutory liability under the Act, the aforesaid proposition, not to deduct the amount of reimbursement received, under a mediclaim policy, appears to be in consonance with the principle of beneficial interpretation and advances the object of the Act.

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