A man met with an accident while travelling in a lorry and died in a hospital eight days later. Hospital records showed that death was caused by tetanus. The Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal rejected a claim for compensation because death had not occurred due to the injuries sustained by him in the accident. The tribunal awarded his heirs Rs 3,000 towards medical expenses. The Karnataka High Court, however, rejected the tribunal’s order and held that the victim had contracted tetanus due to the injuries sustained in the accident. It directed the insurance company to pay Rs 2,25,000 with interest of 6 per cent per annum to the heirs (Smt. Jayarathnamma and others vs Mukhtiar Singh and another).
The rent controller ordered the eviction of the tenants of a building because the landlord wanted to demolish the premises for constructing a multi-storeyed building. The tenants contended that the building’s demolition should not be permitted, as it was not in a dilapidated state. Rejecting the contention, the Supreme Court held that the Tamil Nadu Building (Lease and Rent Control) Act, 1960, permits demolition of a building if the landlord has bona fide requirement of doing so. The locality had developed into a commercial area and therefore the landlord rightly felt that erecting a multi-storeyed building would fetch him better returns on his investments, the court held (S. Venugopal vs A. Karruppusami).
A woman’s husband and mother-in-law were convicted for murdering her on the basis of two dying declarations. The accused appealed against the conviction by contending that the second dying declaration was not as detailed as the first. The Bombay High Court, however, upheld the conviction and ruled that merely because the first dying declaration was more detailed didn’t mean that the two were inconsistent. Both stated that the husband and the mother-in-law had set her ablaze. The medical officer had stated that the condition of the victim, who was severely burnt, had been deteriorating fast. Therefore, it was natural that she could not give more details in her second statement, the court held (Ananda vs State of Maharashtra).
SOLON
