DEVINDER SINGH Vs. RAMBHA DEVI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE driver and owner of the vehicle, who had been burdened with the award, exonerating the insurance company are the appellants before this court. The justification for relieving the insurer was that the driver did not have an effective driving licence on the date of accident but had renewed the same subsequent to the date of accident.

(2.) AT the trial, the Tribunal found that the official from the R. T. O. had produced a document showing that driving licence had expired on 16. 5. 1996, whereas the accident had taken place on 23. 2. 1997. The Tribunal had adverted to the fact that the official had also deposed in his evidence that it was possible that the driving licence could have been renewed in some other Division of the R. T. O.

(3.) THE appellants who are driver and owner of the vehicle had filed CM. No. 1173-CII of 2003 before this court stating that licence had been actually renewed but it was not filed before the court. The copy of the renewed driving licence had been filed showing that it had been renewed up to 14. 5. 2005. However, the application had been dismissed by this court on 23. 1. 2003, stating that the licence appended to the application was totally irrelevant to the present controversy. While it was possible to see from the copy of the driving licence that there had been a renewal, there is nothing on the document to suggest that the renewal had been made even before the accident at the relevant time.