Insurance cover: Gauhati High Court sets aside Tribunal judgement

Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI: The bench of Justice Parthivjyoti Saikia set aside the judgement of the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Kamrup, Guwahati, in an MAC case (94/2008) and denied the deceased driver insurance cover on the ground that ‘the deceased driver stepped into the shoes of the owner of the motor vehicle and could not have claimed compensation under Section 163-A of the MVA’.

This is an appeal under Section 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, against the judgement dated June 21, 2011, passed by the Member, Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Kamrup, Guwahati.

A claim application under Section 163-A of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (for short, “the Act of 1988”) was filed before the Tribunal seeking compensation on account of the death of the deceased.

The appellant Insurance Company contested the claim petition by stating that the deceased was not a third party because he had ‘stepped into the shoes of the actual owner of the motorcycle’. The Tribunal did not accept the plea of the insurance company and awarded compensation of Rs 2,54,000 along with interest at the rate of 6 percent per annum from the date of filing of the claim petition.

Aggrieved by the aforesaid decision of the Tribunal, the present appeal has been filed. The advocate of the insurance company, R. Goswami, submitted that the deceased was not a third party and that he had already stepped into the hands of the real owner.

“For the aforesaid reasons, this Court is of the opinion that the impugned judgement is not sustainable in law. Therefore, the appeal is allowed. The impugned judgement dated June 21, 2011 passed by the learnt Member, Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Kamrup, Guwahati, in the MAC case (94/2008) is set aside.

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