MANOJ KUMAR Vs. UNITED INDIA INSURANCE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The only issue in these two appeals is as to whether the recovery rights of the compensation awarded by the Tribunal to the respondent-insurance company have been correctly awarded or not, the Tribunal having held in the impugned Award that since the licence possessed by respondent no. 3 herein, i.e. the driver of the tractor owned by the appellant, was only one allowing him to drive a tractor, with him not licensed to drive a transport vehicle, and though a tractor is by itself not a transport vehicle but it becomes one the moment a trailer is attached to it, the said licence cannot be held to be a valid licence, as at the time of the accident in question, on 8/1/2016, the tractor driven by respondent no. 3 was pulling a trailer/trolley with it.

(2.) To hold as above, the Tribunal relied upon a judgment of a co-ordinate Bench of this court in United India Insurance company Ltd. vs. Kashish Midha and others 2017 (3) PLR 685.

(3.) However, learned counsel for the appellant submits that the said judgment cannot be stated to be laying down the ratio correctly on that issue, in view of the judgments of the Supreme Court in Mukund Dewangan vs. Oriental Insurance Company Ltd. 2017 (4) RCR (Civil) 111 and Sant Lal vs. Rajesh and others 2017 (3) RCR (Civil) 757, in the latter of which, it has been held as follows:-