Allahabad High Court
The New India Assurance Co. Ltd., ... vs Smt. Poonam Tripathi And Others on 1 December, 2014
Bench: Tarun Agarwala, Satish Chandra
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD
Court No. - 39
Case :- FIRST APPEAL FROM ORDER No. - 34 of 2002
Appellant :- The New India Assurance Co. Ltd., Gorakhpur
Respondent :- Smt. Poonam Tripathi And Others
Counsel for Appellant :- Ashok Kumsr Srivastava,Saurabh Srivastava
Counsel for Respondent :- B.K.Tripathi,A.P. Tiwari,P.K. Tripathi,R.P. Dubey,S.S. Tripathi,Satish Chaturvedi
Hon'ble Tarun Agarwala,J.
Hon'ble Dr. Satish Chandra,J.
Heard Sri Saurabh Srivastava, learned counsel for the appellant and Sri R.P. Dubey, learned counsel for the claimant.
List has been revised.
Other counsel appearing for the other private parties are not present.
The Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, after considering the material available on record allowed the claim application and granted compensation of Rs.5,01,600/-alongwith interest @ 9% p.a. to the claimants.
The brief facts are that, the deceased was traveling on a motor cycle rammed into a tractor trolley which was insured by the appellant. The sole contention before this Court is, that the accident had occurred on 16.10.1994 and the proposal form was made on 17.10.1994. The cash towards premium was received on 17.10.1994 and the cover note was also issued on 17.10.1994 and accordingly the appellant was not liable to pay any compensation since the vehicle was not insured on the date of the accident i.e. 16.10.1994.
We find from the award of the Tribunal on Issue No.6 and 10 that the agent of the insurance company had taken the premium from the owner of the the tractor trolley on 12.10.1994. We are of the opinion that since this fact has not been disputed by the appellant, the coverage of the insurance will start from 12.10.1994 and not from the date when the proposal form and cover note was issued on 17.10.1994. We also find that in the case of Bhal Nalkantha Khadi Vs. Jayantilal and others reported in 1995 LawSuit 485 (Guj.) the proposal of the insurance coverage was made on 07.08.1984 which was accompanied by a bank draft of that very date but the policy was issued on 13.08.1984, the accident had occurred on 08.08.1994. The Division Bench of the Gujrat High Court held that since the bank draft was made on 07.08.1984, the cover policy would start from that date. Similar view was held in T Dinakar Vs. P J Jagadish reported in 1997 LawSuit 198 (Kar.).
In the light of the aforesaid judgments and in view of the fact that the appellant's agent had accepted the premium on 11.10.1994 which has not been disputed in the case, the coverage of the tractor trolley started from that date itself. In the light of the aforesaid, the insurance company was liable to pay the compensation. The appeal fails and is dismissed. The Registry is directed to remit the amount deposited before this Court before the Tribunal concerned within two weeks from today. The Tribunal is also directed to release the amount forthwith.
Order Date :- 1.12.2014
pp/
(Dr. Satish Chandra,J.) (Tarun Agarwala,J.)
