THE BOMBAY High Court recently said “it is difficult to express the extent of dismay and disappointment” at the way in which an advocate for claimants misled it. The court apologised to the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT), Pune, for making ‘strong’ remarks against the panel while hearing an appeal by the claimant’s father and his son. Based on statements of lawyers for the claimants, the bench pulled up the Tribunal for failing to remit Rs 30 lakh to them for over two years.
However, after it was informed that the application for remittance was not made until this month and the Tribunal had transferred the amount to the claimant’s bank account, the bench raised concerns over the ‘poor’ conduct of the law firm for making ‘erroneous’ and misleading submissions.
A division bench of Justice Gautam S Patel and Justice Gauri V Godse was hearing an appeal against an insurance company by one Girish Gopal Nair and his son Gautam Nair.
On September 22, the court noted that another bench of the High Court in February 2019 had allowed Gautam Nair to withdraw the amount deposited by the insurer with the MACT as he needed the same for higher education. Appearing for the claimants, advocate Yashashree Munde said that Gautam’s bank account details were provided to MACT. The court had then noted that despite Gautam having attained majority, MACT, Pune, did not remit the permitted withdrawal of Rs 30 lakh and for two years, the order of February 13, 2019 remained without compliance.
Subscriber Only Stories
On October 14, the bench was informed by the claimants’ lawyer that the Tribunal had declined to make remittance and had insisted on personal undertaking and personal presence of the claimant, however, the same was not possible as he was in the USA. The court had expressed ‘strong displeasure’ about the Tribunal and its Registrar.
On October 15, Assistant Registrar of the MACT told the bench that Rs 30 lakh was remitted by the Tribunal to Gautam’s bank account. He said the father had on October 10 filed an application for withdrawal of the amount accompanied by his own undertaking and no such application was ever made till then.
The bench in its October 19 order noted, “We now have every reason to doubt the correctness of what was told to us by the learned advocate (for claimant). The MACT Pune has never declined to remit the funds. It has not insisted on the personal presence of Gautam Nair or his undertaking….”
Advertisement
Advocate Anil Patani, who appeared for the claimants in Tribunal, told the bench through advocate Yogesh Pande that he had written to Nair and Munde that an ‘entirely erroneous’ submission was made to the High Court as application for withdrawal of amount was never made to MACT until October 10.
The court observed, “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 service of the claimants. We do not even accept the excuse of the Covid because the impression sought to be given is that all courts in Maharashtra had fully shut down for two-and-half years. Everybody knows that this is entirely untrue. Our courts were functioning, even if not at full strength….”
The bench then expressed its disappointment with the law firm and noted, “We express our regret and convey our apologies to the Assistant Registrar, MACT, Pune. We were misled as to the actual circumstances.” It expunged remarks against the Tribunal in October 14 order and said that copy of the October 19 order ‘as a matter of courtesy’ be conveyed by HC registry to Assistant Registrar, MACT, Pune.
Source: https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMilwFodHRwczovL2luZGlhbmV4cHJlc3MuY29tL2FydGljbGUvY2l0aWVzL211bWJhaS9ib21iYXktaGlnaC1jb3VydC1hcG9sb2dpc2VzLXRvLW1hY3QtcHVuZS1wdWxscy11cC1jbGFpbWFudHMtbGF3eWVyLW92ZXItZXJyb25lb3VzLXN1Ym1pc3Npb25zLTgyNDE0NTYv0gEA?oc=5
