Court No. - 34
Case :- FIRST APPEAL FROM ORDER No. - 659 of 2002 Appellant :- United India Insurance Co. Ltd. Respondent :- Beni Bahadur Singh And Others Counsel for Appellant :- Amaresh Sinha
Hon'ble Sudhir Agarwal,J.
1. Heard Sri Anubhav Sinha, Advocate, holding brief of Sri Amaresh Sinha, learned counsel for appellant- Insurance Company and perused the record.
2. This appeal under Section 173 of Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (hereinafter referred to as “Act, 1988”) has arisen from judgment and award dated 16.01.2002 passed by Motor Accident Claims Tribunal/VII Additional District Judge, Allahabad, in Motor Accident Claim Petition No.684 of 1995 (Beni Bahadur Vs. Akhilesh Prasad) awarding compensation of Rs.1,80,000/- to claimants- respondents.
3. The only issue raised before this Court is that driver of vehicle had no valid driving licence hence Insurance Company is not liable to pay compensation.
4. The issue regarding validity of driving licence has been considered by Tribunal as issue no.6 which reads as under :
“Whether the claim is defective due to non joinder of party? Whether the driver of the vehicle had a valid driving licence?”
5. While considering aforesaid issue, Tribunal found that there was a driving licence issued in 1974, which was initially valid upto 1977. Neither driver of vehicle was produced nor any evidence was adduced to show that aforesaid driving licence subsequently was not renewed. Therefore, Insurance Company itself having failed to prove that driver did not possess driving licence cannot be absolved of its liability to pay compensation.
6. The findings recorded by Tribunal are not shown to be perverse and therefore, issue raised in this appeal is answered against appellant.
7. No other point has been argued.
8. Appeal lacks merit and is hereby dismissed with costs throughout.
Order Date :- 22.2.2019 KA