Insurer appealed an award holding it jointly liable for the death of a labourer riding on a tractor mudguard. The Court held the vehicle was insured for agricultural use with one-person capacity, no extra premium covered passengers, so liability on the insurer was set aside; owner and driver must indemnify, with pay-and-recover.
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.
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Digitally signed by AKHILESH BEOHAR Date: 2024.11.29 16:46:21 +0530
2024:CGHC:46867
NAFR
HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR
MAC No. 1334 of 2016
... Appellant
versus
... Respondents
For Appellant : Shri Arvind Panda appears on behalf of Shri D.L.Dewangan, Advocate. For Respondent Nos. 1 to 4 : None, though served. For Respondents 5 & 6 : Shri Gaurav Singhal appears on behalf of Shri Goutam Khetrapal, Advocate.
(HON’BLE SHRI JUSTICE RADHAKISHAN AGRAWAL)
Judgment on Board
28/11/2024
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Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 against the award 28.06.2016 passed by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Bilaspur, C.G. in MACT No.32/2015, awarding total compensation of Rs.6,78,000/- with interest @ 9% per annum from the date of application till realization, while fastening liability upon the appellant-Insurance Company along with driver and owner jointly and severally.
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mudguard of the offending vehicle whereas its sitting capacity was only for one person i.e. for driver and that the risk of deceased is also not covered under the Insurance policy (Ex.P-9), therefore, the Insurance Company is not liable to pay any compensation. Reliance has been placed on the decision of this Court in the matter of Oriental Insurance Company Limited through Divisional Manager, Through its Asstt. Manager vs. Shyam Bai and others1 .
1 2024 SCC Online Chh 1521
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Moreover, driver and owner of the offending vehicle have also not been examined themselves nor examined any witness on their behalf. Furthermore, criminal documents such as final report of police (Ex.P-1) and FIR (Ex.P-2) would also show that offence under Section 304-A of IPC has also been registered against the driver of the offending vehicle/non-applicant No.1 Vinod Kumar for driving the same in a rash and negligent manner.
“7. Following the above decisions of the Supreme Court and this Court discussed above in the case of Beer Narayan Singh v. Ghanshyam reported in 2016 (4) TAC 44 it has been held by the Division Bench of this Court as under:
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registration certificate of offending vehicle (Ex.P-8) and Insurance Policy (Ex.P-9) would clearly indicate that the offending vehicle was insured for agricultural purpose and the sitting capacity of the offending vehicle is only one i.e. for driver. In that view of the matter, the finding recorded by the Tribunal fixing the liability upon the appellantInsurnace Company is not sustainable in law and liable to be and is hereby set aside. Consequently, it is held that on the date of incident, the offending vehicle was being plied in violation of the Insurance Policy, therefore, the driver and owner of the offending vehicle are liable to indemnify the compensation awarded by the Tribunal.
Sd/(Radhakishan Agrawal) Judge
Akhilesh
1 issue framed by the court
Whether the Tribunal erred in fastening liability on the insurer where the deceased was a passenger sitting on a tractor's mudguard with one-person seating capacity under an agricultural package polic
Colour shows how this judgement treated each authority
Oriental Insurance Company Limited through Divisional Manager vs. Shyam Bai and othersFollowed
2024 SCC Online Chh 1521 · Who else cites this
National Insurance Company Ltd. vs. Swaran SinghApplied¶11
(2004) 3 SCC 297 · Who else cites this
3 provisions across 2 enactments
L & T General Insurance Company Ltd.
Vipat Bai
Laxminarayan Yadav (through guardian Vipat Bai)
Baisakhuram Yadav
Jamuna Bai
Vinod Kumar
Radhakishan Agrawal
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
