Jharkhand High Court
The Oriental Insurance Company ... vs Smt. Josophine Jojo on 18 November, 2021
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI
M. A. No. 82 of 2009
The Oriental Insurance Company Ltd. .... .... Appellant
Versus
1. Smt. Josophine Jojo
2. Sri Jogindra Kumar Singh
3. Babudhan Singh .... .... Respondents
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CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE GAUTAM KUMAR CHOUDHARY
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For the Appellant : Mr. Prashant Vidyarthy, Advocate
For the Respondents : Mr. D.K. Chakraverty, Advocate
Oral Order
13 / Dated : 18.11.2021
Heard learned counsel for the parties.
The instant appeal has been preferred by the appellant-Oriental
Insurance Company Ltd. against the award of compensation made in
favour of the claimant who happens to be the mother of the deceased who
died in a motor vehicle accident involving a truck bearing Registration
No. BPU-9877 regarding which Balidih P.S. Case No. 18/2000 was
registered.
The compensation case has been filed against the owner, insurer
and the driver of the offending vehicle. The claim was allowed on contest
against defendant no. 2-the Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd. and ex-parte
against defendant nos. 1 and 3.
The judgment of the learned court below has been assailed
mainly on the ground that the driver of the vehicle was not holding a valid
driving license and all steps were taken on behalf of Insurance Company
during trial for directing the owner and the driver to produce the valid
driving license which was not produced deliberately. Considering these
facts, learned court below by passing the award for compensation against
the Insurance Company held that it was at liberty to recover the
compensation so paid from the owner of the offending vehicle as per law.
The main contention of the Insurance Company is that there
was a breach of condition of insurance policy by permitting the vehicle to
be driven by the driver without a valid driving license. In view of breach
of condition, the Insurance Company was not liable to pay the
compensation amount. Therefore, the order to pay and recover should
not have been passed by the learned Tribunal.
Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the respondents
submits that even if it is accepted that there was a breach of condition as
the driver was not holding a valid driving license at the relevant time of
accident, the Insurance Company has been given right of recovery, but the
Insurance Company cannot escape from third party liability with regard to
the accident which took place more than 20 years ago and it will be
travesty of justice to further delay the matter.
Having gone through the judgment passed by the learned
Tribunal and having considered the rival submissions, I do not find any
infirmity in the impugned order. There is a long line of judicial precedent
where the Insurance Companies have been directed to make payment of
the compensation amount to the claimant with a right to recover in
favour of the Insurance Company against the owner of the vehicle. The
principle of pay and recover has been reiterated by the Hon'ble Apex
Court in the case of Kurvan Ansari Vs Shyam Kishore Murmu passed
in Civil Appeal No 6902 of 2021.
Under the aforesaid facts and circumstances the award passed
by the Learned Tribunal is upheld.
Under the aforesaid facts and circumstances, this misc. appeal
stands dismissed. The Insurance Company is directed to make complete
payment as per the award within a period of four weeks from today.
Consequently, let the statutory amount deposited by the
Insurance Company be remitted to the Tribunal for being paid to the
claimant within a period of four weeks from the order.
(Gautam Kumar Choudhary, J.)
AKT
