(1.) The Appellant New India Assurance Company Limited takes exception to the judgment dated 12.09.2011 passed by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (the Claims Tribunal) whereby while awarding compensation of Rs. 10,42,768/- in favour of the legal heirs of deceased Ram Kishore for his death in a motor vehicle accident which occurred on 02.04.2008, the Appellant Insurance Company was made liable to pay the compensation and to recover the same from the insured. The Appellant's grievance is that since the insured was immediately informed about the dishonour of cheque and an intimation in this regard was also sent to the RTO, it had no liability to pay the compensation to the Claimants even in the first instance. The relevant findings of the Claims Tribunal is extracted hereunder:-
(2.) This case is squarely covered by the Supreme Court judgment in Deddappa & Ors. v. Branch Manager, National Insurance Company Limited, 2008 2 SCC 595; where the Supreme Court considered the judgments in Oriental Insurance Company Limited v. Inderjit Kaur, 1998 1 SCC 371 & New India Assurance Company Limited v. Rula, 2000 3 SCC 195 and held that if an insurance policy is cancelled on account of dishonour of cheque and the Insured as well as the RTO are informed about the same, the third party would not be entitled to get the compensation from the Insurance Company as they are liable only so long as the policy subsists.
(3.) Relying on Deddappa, the Supreme Court in its latest judgment in United India Insurance Company Limited v. Laxmamma & Ors., 2012 5 SCC 234 held as under:-