Review Petition of Insurance Firm Dismissed

 Hyderabad: Justice K. Surender of the Telangana High Court dismissed a review petition filed by the National Insurance Company which granted Rs 23 lakh as compensation to the family members of late Ch. Swamy Rangaiah who died in a scooter accident. The deceased was 49 years old and was working in BHEL with a salary of Rs 14,012 per month. He was the only earning member of the family and all the claimants depended on his income. The Motor Accidents Tribunal had refused compensation to the family of the deceased as it had not relied upon the evidence of a person who was along with the deceased when the accident occurred. The High Court in its judgment made in June 2019 believed the evidence of PW2 stating that he was a truthful witness and accordingly placed reliance on the evidence of PW2 by setting aside the findings of the Tribunal and granting compensation. Dealing with the parameters of a review petition Justice Surender pointed out that a review can be entertained only when any important evidence was discovered after decree was passed and such evidence was not to the knowledge of the review petitioner, any error apparent on the face of the record, any other sufficient reasons. On facts, the judge said the counsel for the Insurance Company is agitating in the present review on the ground that the grant of compensation was on the basis of fraud played by the claimant. The said argument is wholly baseless since this court had set aside the lower court’s order on facts by finding that the evidence of the witness PW2, who was present at the scene, was acceptable and believable. The grounds on which the present review is preferred are untenable. He reiterated that there was no error apparent on the face of the record warranting review of the judgment.

Direction against grant of sand quarry

Justice C.V. Bhaskar Reddy of the Telangana High Court directed not to proceed further with a grant of a sand quarry lease at Pujarigudem village, Mulugu, Bhadrachalam. The judge was dealing with a writ plea filed by Sri Kommalamma Girijana Isuka Quarry Labour. It is the case of the petitioner that it had made an application for a grant of quarry lease. The petitioner alleged that the Ramachandrapuram gram panchayat illegally passed a resolution in favour of the Sammakka Saralamma Girijana Isuka by conducting grama sabha under the PESA Act. He contended that instead of passing a resolution of the petitioner’s society as per the directions of the authorities, the grama sabha, contrary to the rules, passed a resolution in the name of the Sammakka Saralamma Girijana Isuka though the said society has not filed application for grant of quarry leave. The petitioner sought a direction from the court to conduct a fresh grama sabha for allotment of sand quarry in favour of the petitioner who according to the petitioner is the sole person recommended by the district level committee and the state level committee. The judge after hearing the parties directed not to proceed further qua grant any sand quarry lease at Pujarigudem village and posted the matter to June 6.