1. This motor accident claim case has arisen out of an application ...

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4 place on 16.12.2008 at about 11 Pm at Milanpur near Subansiri College on NH-52 under Boginadi PS, due to rash and negligent driving of the offending vehicle bearing registration No.AS.07.C/0119. 11. Accordingly, this issue is answered in affirmative. ISSUE NOs. 2 & 3 12. Both these issues are taken up together for discussion as a matter of convenience and brevity. 13. The learned counsel for the Opposite Party, Insurance Company has submitted that as in the instant case, the deceased happened to be the owner cum driver of the ill-fated vehicle and thereby not a third party, the claim set up by the wife of the deceased being his legal heir, is not entertainable in Motor Accident Claim Tribunal. According to the learned counsel, the Tribunal set up for trying Motor Accident Claim cases u/s 165 of the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988, can take up claims in respect of the accident involving death, or bodily injury to persons arising out of use of motor vehicle or damages to any property of a third party. It is also submitted that as the deceased is not third party to a contract of insurance of the ill-fated vehicle, the Tribunal can not settle the claim for his death and the claimant may claim compensation directly to the O.P. Insurance company as the death claim is covered under Personal Accident coverage. 14. In support of the above contention, the learned counsel relied on a decision of the Honourable Gauhati High Court passed in connection with Case No.CRP. 216/2011 ( Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Co. Ltd. -vs- Smti Smrita Saikia and another). 15. To appreciate the contention of the learned counsel, I have gone through the cited rulings referred to above. In the aforesaid Judgment, it was held - “it is settled by this time that when a court or Tribunal is established for a particular purpose that as to act only for the said purpose and not for any other purpose. Now, the question remains that when as per terms of policy an insurer is liable to pay 1 st party risk coverage to the insured as mentioned in the policy, if the deceased is an owner cum driver then in that case how legal heir of the insured will get the benefit of the policy.
5 According to this court, the legal heir of the deceased insured has the right to claim insurance coverage as mentioned in the policy to the insurance co-petitioner an the Insurance company is also liable to be discharged its duties as per terms and condition of the policy. As the same is not an issue before this Court, this Court is not expressing any opinion regarding claim of the Respondent claimant before the Petitioner Insurance Company. As the learned Tribunal acted beyond its jurisdiction, there is no other alternative before this Court except to set aside the impugned Judgment dtd. 08.04.2011.” 16. However, in this connection, I have gone through the decision of the Honourable Apex Court reported in (2006) 8 SCC 553 ( Dhanraj -vs- New India Assurance Co. Ltd. and anr.) , wherein the Apex Court was dealing with a situation where the appellant therein alongwith certain other persons was travelling in his own jeep met with an accident and received injuries. The Claim Petitions were filed seeking compensation from the Insurance company. The Tribunal held that the driver of the jeep was responsible for the accident and in all the Claim Petitions filed by the passengers the Tribunal directed the owner as well as the Insurance Company to pay compensation. While dealing with the Claim Petition filed by the owner, the Tribunal directed the driver and the Insurance company to pay compensation to the appellant. The appeal filed by the Insurance company was allowed by the Honourable High Court, and aggrieved by the same, the Claimant/ owner therein carried the matter to Honourable Apex Court. Analysing the provision of Section 147 of the Motor Vehicle Act, the Honourable Apex Court held in para-8 as under - “Thus, an Insurance policy covers the liability incurred by the insured in respect of death or bodily injury to any person ( including the owner of the goods or his authorised representative ) carried in the vehicle or damage to any property of a third party caused by or arising out of the use of the vehicle. Section 147 of the M.V.Act does not require an Insurance company to assume risk for death or bodily injury of the owner of the vehicle”.
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