ORIENTAL INSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED Vs. SHIV RAJ SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Appeal from Order has been filed by the Insurance company, namely, Oriental Insurance Company Limited against the award dtd. 23/10/2009 passed by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Rudraprayag on a claim petition being MACT Case No.19 of 2008 filed by the father and mother of the deceased making the insurance company as well as the owner of the vehicle as necessary parties.

(2.) The deceased was a young 25 year old young man, who at the relevant time a soldier in the Indian Army. He was recruited as a "Jawan" in the Garhwal Rifles, barely a few years back. At the relevant time, the deceased Vinod Singh was posted in the Kupwara Sector of Jammu and Kashmir and on the fateful day he was returning home on leave to his village Mathiyana, District Rudraprayag in Uttarakhand. He had boarded on Tata Sumo Jeep from Dehradun which was to carry him till his village at Mathiyana in District Rudraprayag. On way due to the rash and negligent driving of the driver, the vehicle (Tata Sumo bearing No.U.A.-07P/7376) fell into a gorge in the hill track, at about 04:40 AM in the morning, near Shivmurti of Village Bageshwar. The deceased Vinod Singh died on the spot. A claim petition was filed by the father and mother of the deceased respectively before the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Rudraprayag which was registered as MACT Case No.19 of 2008 making the Insurance Company and the owner of the vehicle as necessary parties.

(3.) The learned Tribunal framed the following three issues :-