Content Provider | Supreme Court of India |
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e-ISSN | 30484839 |
Language | English |
Access Restriction | NDLI |
Subject Keyword | Insurance of vehicle Motor Vehicles Act 1988 |
Content Type | Text |
Resource Type | Law Judgement |
Jurisdiction | India |
Case Type | Appeal |
Court | Supreme Court of India |
Disposal Nature | Appeal Allowed |
Headnote | Motor Vehicles Act, 1988; Ss. 58, 72, 86, 146, 147, 149 and 166:Insurance of vehicle - Liability of Insurer to representative of the injured and dead persons in an accident involving public transport vehicle - Compensation - Awards passed by Tribunal exceeding the number of persons insured by assured - Execution of - Held: An insurance policy effected in terms of S. 147(1)(b)(ii) of the Act insure persons/class of persons against the death of/bodily injury to any passenger caused by or arising out of the use of public transport vehicle in public place - Insurer if failed to establish fundamental breach of conditions of the insurance policy to enable it to disclaim liability has the obligation to satisfy the decree/award made by the Court/Tribunal in terms of S. 147(2)(a) and S. 149(1) of the Act - However, it could recover from the owner of the vehicle the excess amount paid in order to satisfy such award/decree - In terms of Section 147(1)(b)(ii), only such number of passengers as shown in the certificate of registration, could be insured - Affording of insurance for more number of passengers than permitted would be illegal since it would amount to overloading of the vehicle - Hence, insurance taken out for permitted number of passengers could alone determine liability of Insurer, and it cannot be extended to cover passengers who got injured or died in the accident but not insured - Since there is no means of ascertaining the passengers which are permitted to be carried out by the permit and covered by the Insurance Policy, the insurance company is directed to deposit the higher of the awards and consequently higher of the amounts awarded as compensation to the extent of number of passengers covered by the Policy - Tribunal is directed to pass appropriate orders for distribution of the money so deposited proportionately to all claimants and claimant could recover the balance from the owner of the vehicle. Words and Phrases:'Any passenger' - Meaning of in the context of Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.A bus owned by the Tehsil Cooperative Union and insured with the appellant-an Insurance Company met with an accident. The vehicle had a carrying capacity of 42 passengers including the driver and the conductor. Allegedly, at the time of the accident, the bus was overloaded having about 90 passengers in it As a result of the accident, 26 persons, including the driver, died and 63 persons got injured. The legal representatives of the deceased and the injured approached Motor Accident Claims Tribunal claiming compensation by filing applications under Section 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. The Tribunal passed various awards on the claims and made the insurance company liable for paying the amounts covered by all the awards exceeding the number of passengers covered by the insurance company. Feeling aggrieved, the insurance company filed appeals challenging the awards. In these appeals, an application was also made seeking impleadment of the State, as the authorities had failed to check the overloading of the bus and it was due to the negligence of the authorities that the accident had occurred and thus the State must be found to be liable for contributory negligence. The High Court taking the view that overloading of the bus, which had a permit to ply with only 42 passengers, did not amount to violation of the route permit or any other law for which the State Government could be held to be contributorily negligent and it is the insurance company which was liable to pay the amounts as awarded by the Tribunal. Hence the present appeals. Appellant-insurance company contended that it had insured 42 passengers, therefore, its liability cannot be enlarged; that there is nothing in the Motor Vehicles Act which justifies the imposing of the liability on the insurance company in respect of persons who were not at all covered by the insurance policy and in respect of whom there was no obligation on the owner of the vehicle to take coverage of insurance in terms of Section 147 of the Act; and that though the relevant provisions of the Act are for the benefit of third parties or passengers of a transport vehicle injured in an accident, but the same did not contain any provision which could enlarge the liability of the insurance company compelling it to cover mote persons than it had contracted to cover. Respondents, on behalf of insured submitted that the victims of accidents are not to be driven to chase the mirage of recovery of compensation or damages from the owner of the vehicle and it is to ensure that the victims are paid compensation, whatever might be the inter se rights and obligations of the owner of the vehicle and the insurance company; that the relevant provisions are made; and that in terms of Section 149 of the Act once an award is passed, it was the duty of the insurer to satisfy the judgment and award and viewed from that angle, the insurance company was bound to pay the victims the entire amount covered by the various awards. |
Judge | Hon'ble Mr. Justice P.K. Balasubramanyan |
Neutral Citation | 2007 INSC 846 |
Petitioner | National Insurance Co. Ltd. |
Respondent | Anjana Shyam And Ors. |
SCR | [2007] 9 S.C.R. 78 |
Judgement Date | 2007-08-20 |
Case Number | 2422-2459 |
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