SANTOSH KUMAR Vs. RAJ KUMAR KARMAKAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The order of 29.01.2018, directing the appellants to deposit the awarded amount, has been complied with partly i.e. only Rs. 2 lacs has been deposited on 04.08.2018. The stay of the execution of the Award was conditional i.e. only upon deposit of the entire awarded amount, would there be a stay of the impugned order.

(2.) It is the appellants' case that the impugned order granting right of recovery to the respondent/insurer is erroneous because the driver of the offending vehicle was holding merely a Learner's Licence and another person who holding a valid Driving Licence is required to sit alongwith, the driver with the Learner's Licence, but no evidence was led to prove that such a person accompanied the driver.

(3.) The said order has been impugned on the ground that it is now settled law that the learning driving licence is a due licence and that it would not be open to the Insurance Company to avoid payment because the learning driving licence was not proper or that the driver was not duly licensed. The learned counsel for the appellant refers to the dicta in National Insurance Company vs. Swaran Singh, 2004 3 SCC 297, which has been relied upon by this Court in MAC. App. No.251/2013 decided on 17.03.2016 titled as United India Insurance Co. Ltd. Vs. Veena Devi and Ors.