RABINARAYAN PRUSTY Vs. SADASIVA ROUT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is an appeal under Section 110 -D of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1939 (in short 'The Act').

(2.) AGGRIEVED by the order making the appellant liable as owner, he has preferred this appeal. The only question for consideration, therefore, is whether the appellant is the owner of the vehicle.

(3.) IN 49 (1980) C.L.T. 285 (Shri P.K. Panda v. Smt. Premalata Choudhury and Ors.) it has been observed by considering several decisions of this Court and of the other High Courts that the person registered as the owner of a vehicle under the Act may in some circumstances be held not to be the real owner. I am inclined to hold that in the absence of any other material, a presumption is to be drawn that the person named in the certificate of registration is the owner of the vehicle. Where, however, other materials are available a Tribunal is to assess those materials to find the real owner in a case where there is dispute regarding ownership.