ORIENTAL INSURANCE CO LTD Vs. N ABBAS ALI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In these Civil Revision Petitions and Miscellaneous First Appeals filed on behalf of the Oriental Insurance Company Limited, a prayer has been made to set aside the award in so far as it pertains to the insurance company, mainly on the ground of a Full Bench judgment of this Court in NATIONAL INSURANCE CO. LTD., v. DUNDAMMA, 1992 ACJ1 , [1992 ]75 CompCas141 (Kar ), ILR1991 KAR 2045 , 1991 (3 )KarLJ505 read with Rule 161 of the Karnataka Motor Vehicles Rules, 1963.

(2.) The admitted facts of the case are that the lorry involved in an accident, which resulted in the death of Gangu Bai and Laxmi Bai, on whose behalf claim petition Nos. MVC 69/87 and 87/87 were filed, and injury to 22 passengers, was not a vehicle meant for the purposes of carrying passengers, but was a goods vehicle. The Motor Vehicles Accidents Tribunal, vide the order impugned in these CRPs and MFAs, found that as the passengers in the goods vehicle were carrying firewood, for which they had paid fare and luggage charges, were entitled to be paid compensation for the deaths caused and injuries suffered on account of the accident. It was further held that besides the owner and driver, the petitioner, appellant-Insurance Company was vicariously liable. Various amounts were awarded to the claimants for the injuries suffered and the deaths caused.

(3.) The Full Bench of this Court, in National Insurance Company's case supra, considered the question of liability of the insurance company and found that the statutory liability of the insurance company is to depend on the statutory provisions and not on what a driver or owner had done, i.e., collecting hire or fare or not collecting such hire or fare. After referring to various judgments, it was concluded: