KONNAN AYYAPPAN Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner states that he lost his daughter as a result of a "motor accident" on the 12th June 1956 and that he is entitled to compensation in respect of that accident. THE 1st respondent is the State of Kerala , the 2nd, the State Insurance Officer, Trivandrum , and the 3rd, one Kuriakose whose lorry, TCK. 1238, is alleged to have been responsible for the accident.

(2.) THE main prayer in the petition is that this court should issue: "a Writ of Mandamus or such other writ, order or direction to respondents 1 and 2 in order to compel them to dispose of the petitioner's application for compensation according to law and to grant his claim for the insurance amount due in respect of lorry T. C K. 1238, on account of the death of his daughter, T. K. Thankamma , in the accident caused by the said vehicle at Perumbavoor on 12th June 1956. "

(3.) THE learned counsel for the petitioner appears to be under some misapprehension regarding sub-section (4)of S. 90: "notwithstanding anything elsewhere contained in any law, a person issuing a policy of insurance under this section shall be liable to indemnify the person or classes of persons specified in the policy in respect of any liability which the policy purports to cover in the case of that person or those classes of persons". THE exact scope and meaning of this section will be clear from the following commentary on S. 36 (4) of the (English) Road Traffic Act, 1930, in MACGILLIVRAY on Insurance Law, Fourth Edition, Para. 1840 : "s. 36 (4) provides that, notwithstanding anything in any enactment, a person who issues a policy of insurance under that section is liable to indemnify the persons or classes of persons specified in the policy in respect of any liability which the policy purports to cover in the case of those persons or classes of persons. This subsection is intended to meet the difficulty which was first considered in the case of William s v. THE Baltic (1924) 2 K. B. 282) and to confirm the effect of that decision, in respect of the clause which is normally inserted in motor vehicles policies extending the indemnity to persons other than the insured driving the vehicle with his consent. "