SHYAM LAL Vs. SHRIRAM GENERAL INSURANCE CO. LTD.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The owner of the utility vehicle involved in an accident, which gave rise to 5 claim petitions, has filed the instant appeal challenging the order of "pay and recover" issued by the High Court in the appeal filed by the Insurance Company. The High Court found that the utility vehicle was not entitled to carry passengers by reason of the specific restriction in the policy which is evident from "Limitation as to Use". The contention was that the 4 passengers excluding the driver who were entitled to travel in the utility vehicle, are only employees who come under the purview of Workmen's Compensation Act, 1923.

(2.) The learned Counsel for the appellant-owner took us through the Certificate of Registration (Annexure P1), the contract carriage permit (Annexure P2) and the package policy (Annexure P3) which indicated the seating capacity including the driver to be 4+1. It is argued that the limitation as to use insofar as carriage of goods applies only to a goods vehicle and not an utility vehicle which can carry both passengers and goods. There is no ground for ordering "pay and recovery" in the facts and circumstances of the case, especially when the Insurance Company had not taken a defence that the vehicle was insured as a goods vehicle. The claimants are the legal representatives of the deceased who were either travelling in the vehicle or standing/walking at the accident site.

(3.) The learned Counsel for the Insurance Company, however, contended that there could be no plea of goods being carried in the vehicle because one of the deceased was a student and the others; a catering employee, a painter, an employee in the postal department and an unemployed man. The restriction squarely applies, and the passengers cannot be said to be validly covered under the policy. It is also argued that even if the passengers are said to be owners of goods or his representative, there could not have been more than four passengers in the vehicle, when the claim petitions were numbering five. There was also an allegation of nine deaths having occurred in the accident, which clearly indicates overloading.