UNITED INDIA INSURANCE CO LTD Vs. GURBAX SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This judgment shall dispose of two appeals being F.A.O. Nos. 240 and 241 of 2001 as they arise out of a common award and the same accident.

(2.) The facts necessary for the decision of the case are that on 4.6.1998 a band party was being carried in a Tempo bearing registration No. HP-06 1303. This Tempo met with an accident resulting in the death of some members of the band party and injury to some others. Two claim petitions were filed. One was filed by Mohammad Latif, who was a member of the band party and was injured in the accident and the other was filed by the parents of Dev Raj, who died in the accident. In the claim petition, it was stated that the deceased and the injured were members of the band party and were made to board the said Tempo for their journey to Talmehra.

(3.) The defence of the owner and driver was that the members of the band party were sitting in Tempo in pursuance of the contract of employment along with their goods and were going to Kullu when the accident occurred. The stand of the insurance company was that the deceased were unauthorised passengers in a goods vehicle and as such the insurance company was not responsible.