This First Appeal challenges an award of Rs. two lacs by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal under limited liability cover in the absence of negligence. The Court applied precedents and dismissed the appeal, upholding the Tribunal's award.
The appeal was dismissed as it lacked merit.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
Court No. - 26
Case :- FIRST APPEAL FROM ORDER No. - 2821 of 2018
Appellant :- National Insurance Company Ltd. Respondent :- Smt. Shalini Kushawaha And 2 Others Counsel for Appellant :- Arun Prakash
Hon'ble Ajit Kumar,J.
Heard learned counsel for the appellant.
This First Appeal From Order under Section 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 is directed against the award dated 24.2.2018 made by the Motor Accident Claim Tribunal /Additional District Judge, Court No. 1, Kanpur Nagar whereby a compensation of Rs. two lacs has been directed to be paid by the insurance company namely, the appellant in favour of the claimant whose husband had died during the accident in the night of 1st December, 2012.
The facts of the case are that the vehicle bearing No. U.P. 78 CU 1682 was a Wagon R car owned by the deceased himself and the said vehicle was duly insured with insurance company namely, the National Insurance Company Ltd., the appellant and for the purposes of the limited liability to meet the requirements of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 for a third party damage property was upto Rs. 7.5 lacs whereas for the personal claim for owner-cum-driver was covered for Rs. two lacs under the said insurance policy. Since the vehicle was owned by the deceased and while being driven by a driver, fell into the river due to loss of control by the driver on the fateful night resulting in the death of the husband of the claimant, the Tribunal did not find any evidence to trace out any negligence nor, there was any third party claim set up before it and so the Tribunal made an award in respect of limited liability covered under the insurance company for Rs. two lacs towards the owner-cum-driver and the said amount was directed to be paid under the award to the claimant who was admittedly the wife of the deceased.
The argument advanced on behalf of the appellant is that though the claimant was wife of owner of the vehicle which was duly insured with the National Insurance Company Ltd. and risk cover of accidental injury and death for both the owner-cum-driver for Rs. two lacs under the policy, the claims tribunal was not an appropriate forum for setting up claims for such compensation.
The foundation of the argument is that under Section 166 of the
Motor Vehicles Act it is a third party liability which is covered in as much as the claims that are to be raised before the tribunal the element of negligence is always the basis of the claim which is not occurring in the present case. From the perusal of the award, I find that the compensation awarded is to the extent of limited liability and is covered under the insurance policy and, therefore, I do not find any such jurisdictional illegality to the extent of impunity to interfere with the award.
In view of the judgment of the Supreme Court in the case of Ningamma and another vs. United India Insurance Company Ltd. reported in 2009 (13) SCC 710 , I find that no interference is required with the award. The appeal lacks merit and is accordingly dismissed.
Order Date :- 3.7.2018 BKM/-
2 issues framed by the court
Whether the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal has jurisdiction to award compensation under limited liability coverage of an insurance policy under Section 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act even in the absenc
Whether the Court should interfere with an award of Rs. two lacs made under limited liability cover held by the Tribunal based on the judgment in Ningamma.
Colour shows how this judgement treated each authority
Ningamma and another vs. United India Insurance Company Ltd.Applied¶11
2009 (13) SCC 710 · Who else cites this
2 provisions across 1 enactments
National Insurance Company Ltd.
Smt. Shalini Kushawaha
Ajit Kumar
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
