NATIONAL INSURANCE CO LTD Vs. ASHOK CHAUDHARY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE Appellant National Insurance Company Ltd. takes exception to a judgment dated 08.07.2009 whereby a compensation of Rs.9,79,015/- was awarded in favour of the First Respondent for having suffered injuries in a motor vehicle accident which occurred on 15.06.2006.

(2.) THE sole ground of challenge raised during hearing of the Appeal is that the Appellant Insurance Company successfully proved the breach of the terms of the policy as the Respondent No.2 Dharmender (the driver of the offending vehicle) did not possess a valid driving licence to drive the class of vehicle which caused the accident, yet instead of exonerating the Appellant Insurance Company the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal(the Claims Tribunal) made the Appellant liable to pay the compensation and granted it recovery rights. It is urged by the learned counsel for the Appellant that since the conscious and willful breach of the terms of the policy was established, the Appellant had no liability at all to pay the compensation. The learned counsel for the Appellant places reliance on Malla Prakasarao v. Malla Janaki & Ors.(2004) 3 SCC 343.

(3.) THE three Judge Bench of the Supreme Court in National Insurance Company Limited v. Swaran Singh & Ors., (2004) 3 SCC 297 again emphasized that the liability of the insurer to satisfy the decree passed in favour of the third party was statutory. It approved the decision in Sohan Lal Passi, Kamla and Lehru. Para 73 and 105 of the report are extracted hereunder: