NEW INDIA ASSURANCE CO LTD Vs. BALBIR SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This judgment shall dispose of the above titled appeals filed by the Insurance Company having arisen from the same accident but from different awards. The moot question, in the instant appeals is whether the Insurance Company is liable to indemnify the insured for the amount of compensation on account of breach of the terms and conditions of the policy viz-a-viz the vehicle in question, being plied on a road for which it was not having permit.

(2.) The facts which give rise to the present appeals can be stated thus. On 17.2.2009 mini bus bearing registration No. PB-01-3858 (Tata 407) was carrying a marriage party from village Singan District Una to village Bichoi in Hoshiarpur (Pb). It is alleged that due to rash and negligent driving of respondent Ajay Kumar its driver, it met with an accident and fell on the National Highway near village Polian in the State of Himachal Pradesh, causing death of some of the passengers and injuries to others. As such, the injured as well as the legal representatives/ dependents of the deceased filed their claim petitions under Section 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act.

(3.) The claim was resisted and contested by the Insured as well as by the Insurance Company. The insured denied rash and negligent driving by its driver whereas the insurance company denied its liability on the ground that it was over loaded and being plied on the different route than permitted.