The High Court dismissed the National Insurance Company Ltd.'s appeal against a Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal award of Rs. 7,53,800/- to claimants for the death of Lachman Dass. The court held the insurer liable and found the deceased to be around 45 years old.
Appeal dismissed; Tribunal award in favour of claimants upheld.
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.
FAO 305 of 2013 (O&M) -1-
IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH
FAO 305 of 2013 (O&M) Date of Decision : April 22, 2013
National Insurance Company Ltd.
.....Appellant
VERSUS
Mam Kaur and others
.....Respondents
CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE T.P.S.MANN
Present : Mr. Sandeep Suri, Advocate for the appellant.
T.P.S. MANN, J.
The Insurance Company with which the offending vehicle i.e. Eicher Tractor bearing registrartion No. HR-41-5414 stood insured, has filed the present appeal under Section 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act for challenging the award dated 4.8.2012 passed by the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, SAS Nagar, Mohali, whereby the claimants-respondent Nos. 1 and 2 were awarded compensation to the tune of Rs.7,53,800/- on account of death of their bread-earner Lachman Dass in a motor vehicular accident and the appellant, alongwith respondent Nos. 3 to 5 driver and owners of the offending vehicle, were held jointly and severally liable to pay the compensation amount, alongwith interest.
The main issue which arises in the appeal is as to whether the person authorized to drive the scooter/motor cycle/car/jeep could also drive the tractor without obtaining appropriate endorsement on his driving licence from the concerned authority. It may be apt to refer to Rule 6 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules which provides for grant of licence in respect of
FAO 305 of 2013 (O&M) -2-
Light Motor Vehicle or the transport vehicle amongst other categories. There is no specific entry for issuance of licence for driving a tractor. Under Section 2(44) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 'tractor' by definition is a Light Motor Vehicle. If the driver of the tractor has a licence to drive any category of vehicle that falls within the definition of Light Motor Vehicle, he has to be taken to be duly licensed to driver a tractor as well. Under these circumstances, the Insurance Company cannot avoid liability fastened upon it by the Tribunal.
Secondary issue regarding age of the deceased at the time of accident also arises as it has been claimed by the counsel for the appellant that when claimant Mam Kaur was aged 50 years, her husband Lachman Dass since deceased could not be taken to be 45 years of age. Rather his age would have been more than 50 years.
The accident in question had taken place on 11.4.2001. The claim petition was filed by Mam Kaur and her son Surinder Kumar after about 8 years of the accident. At that point of time, Mam Kaur mentioned her age as 50 years. Obviously, in the year 2001, she was aged about 42/43 years. Therefore, it cannot be said that her late husband was not 45 years or was more than 50 years of age on the date of the accident.
It may not be out of place to mention here that out of the same accident, two sets of claim petitions were filed, one by Mam Kaur and her son Surinder Kaur in relation to death of her husband Lachman Dass while other by legal heirs of one Bal Krishan, who had also died in the accident. The legal heirs of Bal Krishan were similarly awarded compensation as Mam Kaur and her son Surinder Kumar, though in respect of both the claim petitions, separate awards were passed by the Tribunal but on the same date.
FAO 305 of 2013 (O&M) -3-
The Insurance Company challenged the award in respect of grant of compensation to legal heirs of Bal Krishan by filing FAO 306 of 2013. The same came up for hearing before a coordinate Bench of this Court on 25.1.2013 when after hearing counsel for the Insurance Company, the Bench did not find any merit in the appeal and dismissed the same.
In view of the above, no case is made out for any interference in the impugned award passed by the Tribunal in favour of the claimantsrespondent Nos. 1 and 2. The appeal is without any merit and, therefore, dismissed.
( T.P.S. MANN ) JUDGE
April 22, 2013 pds
2 issues framed by the court
Whether a driver licensed for Light Motor Vehicles can drive a tractor without endorsement.
Whether the deceased's age could be more than 50 years based on the spouse's age.
2 provisions across 1 enactments
National Insurance Company Ltd.
Mam Kaur
others
T.P.S. MANN
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
