DHRUBA BHARALI Vs. SHYAM CHANDRA KALITA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is appeal under Section 110-D of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1939, against the award, dated 22nd September, 1992, passed by the learned Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Guwahati, in M.A.C. Case No. 89 (K)/88, awarding a sum of Rupees one lakh twenty thousand, as compensation, to the claimants and directing the insurer-respondent No. 8 herein to pay, as their statutory liability, Rupees fifteen thousand to the claimant-appellants, the appeal having been preferred against the said award by the owner of the vehicle, which was involved in the accident.

(2.) The claimants' case, in brief, is, thus: On 14th January, 1988, when Jatin Kalita (since deceased) was travelling in public bus, bearing registration No. AMU-335, the vehicle, due to its rash and negligent driving by the driver, dashed against a roadside tree. Jatin Kalita, who was a passenger in the bus, died as a result of the injuries sustained in the accident. The claimants, who are legal representatives of the deceased, sought for a sum of Rupees two lakhs as compensation.

(3.) The present appellant, as owner of the said vehicle, resisted the claim by contending, inter alia, that the vehicle was comprehensively insured with the respondent No. 8 herein and, in such circumstances, whatever compensation were found payable to the claimants by the owner are to be indemnified by, and shall be recoverable from the insurer. As against the plea, so taken by the owner of the vehicle, the insurer contended that though the relevant insurance policy was a comprehensive one, no special premium had been paid for enchancing the statutory liability of the insurer with regard to the passengers and, hence, the insurer's liability, in the present case, for the death of a passenger, remained limited to the tune of Rs. 15,000.