ORIENTAL INSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED Vs. K. NARASIMHA REDDY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) WHERE in an accident, the driver died and his licence is burnt, whether it would be appropriate for the insurance company to repudiate the claim made by the owner of the vehicle on the ground that the driving licence was not produced before it.

(2.) THE facts of the case in hand are these. K. Narasimha Reddy got his 10 wheeler vehicle having National Permit for Rs.10 lakh with the petitioner -Oriental Insurance Company Limited covering a period from 13.10.2007 to 12.10.2008. The said vehicle met with an accident when the truck driver driving the vehicle rashly and negligently on 3.7.2008. The truck came from opposite direction collided and dashed against the complainant's vehicle due to which the complainant's vehicle caught fire. The driver of the complainant's vehicle, who was driving the vehicle died on spot instantaneously. The truck driver was arrested for offences under Sections 304A, 337 and 338 IPC.

(3.) THE main plea set up by the petitioner was that the claim made by the complainant that the driving licence of the driver was burnt, was false. The complainant had failed to prove that the driver was having a valid driving licence at the time of the accident.