The Kerala High Court has ruled that if a claim under the mediclaim policy is received for meeting hospital expenses following a road accident, the same can be deducted from the compensation awarded by a Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MCAT).
The court made the observation on Thursday while disposing of an appeal against a compensation awarded by the MACT, Ernakulam.
It was contended that the amount received under the mediclaim policy was not liable to be deducted since the amount was paid under a contractual liability. It was submitted that the liability of the insurer of the offending vehicle to pay compensation was statutory, whereas the liability to pay a sum to the insured victim on payment of a premium paid from his own earnings was a contractual liability.
The court observed that treating motor accident claim as a “statutory liability” and mediclaim as a “contractual liability” was not justified. There could be no such categorisation. The compensation in a motor accident was one based on negligent driving giving rise to a tortious liability.
