NEW INDIA ASSURANCE CO LTD Vs. V VIMALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) CHALLENGING the award (23.7.2008) passed by the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal (Subordinate Judge), Kancheepuram, in M.C.O.P. No. 115 of 2003, New India Assurance Co. Ltd. has filed the present appeal.

(2.) APPELLANT New India Assurance Co. Ltd. is the respondent No. 2, respondent Nos. 1 to 3 are the claimants and respondent No. 4 is the respondent No. 1, owner of the vehicle, before the Tribunal.

(3.) IN order to prove the claim, the respondent No. 1 examined herself as PW 1 besides examining two other witnesses as PWs 2 and 3 and marked Exhs. P1 to P31. On the side of insurance company, one Arumugham, Regional Transport Officer, was examined as RW 1, but no document was marked. The Tribunal, after finding that the accident had occurred due to negligent act of the driver of the respondent No. 4, by order dated 23.7.2008, quantified the compensation and passed an award for Rs. 18,69,000 and directed the insurance company to pay the said amount and permitted them to recover the same from the owner of the vehicle, i.e., respondent No. 4 on a finding that the driver of the van did not have a valid driving licence to drive the transport vehicle. Feeling aggrieved, the present appeal is filed by the insurance company.