PARVEEN KATHURIA Vs. RELIANCE GENERAL FINANCE CO. LTD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant has impugned the recovery right granted against him to the insurance company for the compensation paid by the latter to the beneficiaries of the Award. A motor vehicle accident resulted in fatality of the injured/victim. The appellant is the owner of the offending vehicle. Before the learned Tribunal his stand was that neither he nor the driver of the insured vehicle was involved in the accident. His written statement is rather pithy and it reads thus:

(2.) The insurance company, however, has specifically contended that the vehicle was being driven by a person who did not hold a valid driving licence. It contended as under:

(3.) The appellant abandoned the proceedings midway despite knowing the stand of the insurance company. The driving licence produced by the driver was found to be fake by the police. The appellant has nowhere stated that he had found the driver to be possessing a valid driving licence or that he had employed the said person after the latter had shown the employer a driving licence which the employer believed to be true and after the latter had tested the driving skills of the prospective driver. The appellant relies upon the dicta of the Supreme Court in Ram Chandra Singh vs. Rajaram and Ors. 2018 Law Suit (SC) 740 which held inter alia as under: