LAWS(HPH)-2010-1-35

UNITED INDIA INSURANCE COMPANY LTD Vs. PRIYANKA

Decided On January 01, 2010
UNITED INDIA INSURANCE COMPANY LTD Appellant
V/S
PRIYANKA Respondents

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal filed by the appellant/ Insurance Company under Section 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act, hereinafter referred to as 'the Act' against the award passed by the learned Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (I), Kangra at Dharamshala, dated 18.2.2005, passed in Claim Petition No.17-K/II of 2003, titled Kumari Priyanka versus Jai Chand and others. This judgment shall also dispose of the appeal filed by the owner and the driver of the vehicle challenging the findings of the learned Tribunal, whereby the Insurance Company was held entitled to recover the award amount from the owner of the vehicle.

(2.) The owner and driver of the vehicle filed reply and pleaded therein that the accident had not taken place due to the rash or negligent driving of the driver. The present appellant i.e. the Insurance Company (original respondent No.3) took up the plea that the driver was not holding a valid and effective driving license and that the vehicle was being driven in contravention of the terms and conditions of the insurance policy and that the claimant was a gratuitous passenger in the vehicle and as such the Insurance Company was not liable to pay any compensation.

(3.) The parties led their evidence and the learned Tribunal, vide its impugned findings, allowed the petition for a sum of Rs.34,369/- recoverable from the Insurance Company, which was held entitled to recover the amount later on from the owner in accordance with law. The present appeal has been preferred by the Insurance Company on the ground that they are not liable to pay compensation since the vehicle was a goods carrier and the claimant was a gratuitous passenger. I have heard the learned counsel for the parties and have gone through the record of the case. The learned counsel for the owner and the driver, on the strength of the earlier decisions of the Apex Court, had submitted that the Insurance Company was rightly held liable to pay the amount. However, the findings of the learned Tribunal that the Insurance Company is entitled to recover the award amount from the owner of the vehicle were challenged.