ORIENTAL INSURANCE COMPANY Vs. PARVEEN KUMARI AND OTHERS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Petition, filed under the provisions of Section 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, stands allowed by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal-II, Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh (hereinafter referred to as the Tribunal), and award passed in Claim Petition No.33 of 2010, titled as Parveen Kumari & others v. Meena Puri & others, whereby claimants stand awarded a sum of Rs. 8,40,000/-.

(2.) Limited challenge to the award is with regard to the breach of terms of insurance policy, inasmuch as the driver was not authorized to drive the vehicle, for the reason that he was holding licence to only drive light transport vehicle.

(3.) That the vehicle bearing No.HP-20C-0205, owned by Smt. Meena Puri (respondent No.5 herein) and driven by Shri Jagdish Pal (respondent No.6 herein), met with an accident on 17.3.2010, in which deceased Harmesh Kumar died, stands proved on record. There is not much challenge on this point. HC Puran Bhagat Singh (PW-1) has proved FIR (Ex.PW-1/A). Postmortem of the dead body was conducted by Dr. Daljit Singh (PW-5). Factum of dependency of the claimants upon the deceased stands proved by Smt. Parveen Kumari (PW-6). Rash and negligent act and conduct of the driver of the offending vehicle also stands proved on record by Shri Ajay Kumar (PW-4).