TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2004 (1) TMI 703
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....National Insurance Company Limited (hereinafter referred to as Insurer) assailing various awards of the Motor Vehicle Claims Tribunal and judgments of the High Courts. In view of the fact that these petitions involve pure questions of law, it is not necessary advert to the individual fact pertaining to each matter. Suffice, however, is to point out that the vehicles insured with the petitioners were involved in accidents resulting in filing of claim applications by the respective legal representatives of the deceased(s) or the injured person(s), as the case may be. Defences raised by the Petitioner Company in the claim petitions purported to be in terms of Section 149(2)(a)(ii) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act') were : (a) driving licence produced by the driver or owner of the vehicle was a fake one; (b) driver did not have any licence whatsoever, (c) licence, although was granted to the concerned driver but on expiry there of, the same had not been renewed; (d) licence granted to the drivers being for one class or description of vehicle but the vehicle involved in the accident was of different class or description; and (e) the v....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
.... rules made under Section 139, the person specified therein to drive a motor vehicle. (2) No holder of a driving licence or a learner's licence shall permit it to be used by any other person. (3) Nothing in this section shall prevent a licensing authority having the jurisdiction referred to in Sub-section (1) of Section 9 from adding to the classes of vehicles which the driving licence authorises the holder to drive. 7. Restrictions on the granting of learner's licences for certain vehicles, (1) No person shall be granted a learner's licence to drive a transport vehicle unless he has held a driving licence to drive a light motor vehicle for at least one year. (2) No person under the age of eighteen years shall be granted a learner's licence to drive a motor cycle without gear except with the consent in writing of the person having the care of the person desiring the learner's licence.' Section 9 provides for grant of driving licence. '9. Grant of driving licence. --(1) Any person who is not for the time being disqualified for holding or obtaining a driving licence may apply to the licensing authority ....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....ng licence, except a driving licence issued under Section 18, shall be in such form and shall contain such information as may be prescribed by the Central Government. (2) A learner's licence or, as the case may be, driving licence shall also be expressed as entitling the holder to drive a motor vehicle of one or more of the following classes, namely: - (a) motor cycle without gear: (b) motor cycle with gear; (c) invalid carriage; (d) light motor vehicle; (e) transport vehicle; (i) road-roller; (j) motor vehicle of a specified description. Currency of licences to drive motor vehicles. - (1) A learner's licence issued under this Act shall, subject to the other provisions of this Act be effective for a period of six months from the date of issue of the licence. (2) A driving licence issued or renewed under this Act shall. - (a) in the case of a licence to drive a transport vehicle, be effective ibr a period of three years; Provided that in the case of licence to drive a transport vehicle carrying goods of dangerous or hazardous nature he effective for a period of one yea....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....half. (4) Where an application for the renewal of a driving licence is made more than thirty days after the date of its expiry the fee payable for such renewal shall be such amount as may be prescribed by the Central Government: Provided that the fee referred to in Sub-section (3) may be accepted by the licensing authority in respect of an application for the renewal of a driving licence made under this sub-section if it is satisfied that the applicant was prevented by good and sufficient cause from applying within the time specified in Sub-section (3): Provided further that if the application is made more than five years after the driving licence has ceased to be effective the licensing authority may refuse to renew the driving licence unless the applicant, undergoes and passes to its satisfaction the test of competence to drive referred to in Sub-section (3) of Section 9. (5) Where the application for renewal has been rejected, the fee paid shall be refunded to such extent and in such manner as may be prescribed by the Central Government. (6) Where the authority renewing the driving licence is not the authority which issued the driving....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....ct of interest on that sum by virtue of any enactment relating to interest on judgments. Sub-section (2) of Section 149 of the Act, however, seeks to make an exception thereto. Sub-sections (4), (5) and (7) of Section 149 read thus : "(4) Where a certificate of insurance has been issued under Sub-section (3) of Section 147 to the person by whom a policy has been effected, so much of the policy as purports to restrict the insurance of the persons insured thereby by reference to any condition other than those in Clause (b) of Sub-section (2) shall, as respects such liabilities as are required to be covered by a policy under Clause (b) of Sub-section (1) of Section 147, be of no effect: Provided that any sum paid by the insurer in or towards the discharge of any liability of any person which is covered by the policy by virtue only of this sub-section shall be recoverable by the insurer from that person. (5) If the amount which an insurer becomes liable under this section to pay in respect of a liability incurred by a person insured by a policy exceeds the amount for which the insurer would apart from the provisions of this section be liable under the policy ....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....er giving the parties (including the insurer) an opportunity of being heard, hold an inquiry into the claim or, as the case may be, each of the claims and, subject to the provisions of Section 162 may make an award determining the amount of compensation which appears to it to be just and specifying the person or persons to whom compensation shall be paid and in making the award the Claims Tribunal shall specify the amount which shall be paid by the insurer or owner or driver of the vehicle involved in the accident or by all or any of them, as the case may be; Provided that where such application makes a claim for compensation under Section 140 in respect of the death or permanent disablement of any person, such claim and any other claim (whether made in such application or otherwise) for compensation in respect of such death or permanent disablement shall be disposed of in accordance with the provisions of Chapter X. (2) The Claims Tribunal shall arrange to deliver copies of the award to the parties concerned expeditiously and in any case within a period of fifteen days from the date of the award. (3) When an award is made under this section, the person w....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....w India Assurance Co., Shimla v. Kamla and Ors. etc. : [2001]2SCR797 and United India Insurance Company Ltd. v. Lehru and Ors. : [2003]2SCR495 wherein it has been held that the court is entitled to issue a direction upon the insurer to satisfy the award and thereafter recover the same from the owner of the vehicle do not lay down the correct law and should be overruled. The learned counsel appearing on behalf of the respondents, who are third party claimants on the other hand, submitted: (i) that the Parliament deliberately used two different expressions 'effective licence' in Section 3 and 'duly licensed' in Sub-section (2) of Section 149 of the Act which are suggestive of the fact that a driver once licensed, unless he is disqualified, would continue to be a duly licensed person for the purpose of Chapter XI of the Act. (ii) Thus, once a person has been duly licensed but has not renewed his licence, the same would not come within the purview of Section 149 and thus would not constitute a statutory defence available to the insurer in terms thereof. Only in the event of lapse of five years from the date of expiry of the licence, such statutory d....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
...., Sohan Lal Passi v. P. Sesh Reddy and Ors. : AIR 1996 SC 2627 and United India Insurance Company Ltd. v. Lehru and Ors. : [2003]2SCR495 . Before we deal with various contentions raised by the parties it is desirable to look into the legislative history of the provisions for its interpretation. The relevant provisions of the Act indisputably are beneficent to the claimant. They are in the nature of a Social Welfare Legislation. Chapter XI of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, inter alia, provides for compulsory insurance of vehicles in relation to the matters specified therefore. The provision for compulsory insurance indisputably has been made inter alia with a view to protect the right of a third party. This Court in Sohan Lal Passi (supra) noted: "10. The road accidents in India have touched a new height. In majority of cases because of the rash and negligent driving, innocent persons become victims of such accidents because of which their dependants in many cases are virtually on the streets. In this background, the question of payment of compensation in respect of motor accidents has assumed great importance for public as well as for courts. Traditionally, before ....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....ptcy or the winding-up of proceedings. The beneficial provisions of the aforementioned English Statutes were incorporated by the Parliament of India while enacting the Motor Vehicles Act, 1939 which has also since been repealed and replaced by the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. Concededly different types of insurance covers are issued containing different nature of contract of insurance. We are, however, in this batch of cases mainly concerned with third party right under the policy. Any condition in the insurance policy, whereby the right of the third party is taken away, would be void. Indisputably such a benefit to a third party was provided under the Statute keeping in view the fact that the conditions in the assured's policy may not be of no or little effect in relation to a claim by a person to whom an assured was under a compulsorily insurable liability. In this context, it is necessary to consider as to what is a third party right. A third party claim arises when a victim of an accident suffers a bodily injury or death as a result thereof or his property is damaged. An accident is not susceptible to a very precise definition. The popular and ordinary sense of the....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....x's Law of Insurance (6th Edition) page 304, the following illustration is given : "If a man walks and stumbles, thus spraining his ankle, the injury is accidental for while he intends to walk he does not intend to stumble. In Hamlyn v. Crown Accidental Insurance the assured's injury was due to stooping forward to pick up a marble dropped by a child as it rolled from him. He stood with his legs together, separated his knees, leaned forward and made a grab at the marbie, and in doing so wrenched his knee. The injury was held by the Court of Appeal to be accidental, on the ground that the assured did not intend to get into such a position that he might wrench his knee." At para 17-13 of the said treatise it is stated : "Accident includes negligence It makes no difference that the accident was caused by the negligence of the assured (as opposed to his intentional act). Thus there is an accident where the assured crosses a railway line without exercising due care and is knocked down by an approaching train. In fact one of the commonest causes of accidents is negligence, and an accident policy applies, excepted perils apart, whether the injury is ca....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....wider risk. In such an event, the insurer is bound by the terms of the contract as specified in the policy in regard to unlimited or higher liability as the case may be. In the absence of such a term or clause in the policy, pursuant to the contract of insurance, a limited statutory liability cannot be expanded to make it unlimited or higher. If it is so done, it amounts to rewriting the statute or the contract of insurance which is not permissible." For the aforementioned reasons, the provisions contained in Chapter XI of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 must be construed in that light. Sub-section (1) of Section 149, casts a liability upon the insurer to pay to the person entitled to the benefit of the decree as if he were the judgment debtor. Although the said liability is subject to the provision of this section, it prefaces with a non-obstante clause that the insurer may be entitled to avoid or cancel or may have avoided or cancelled the policy. 'Furthermore, the statute raises a legal fiction to the effect that for the said purpose the insurer would be deemed to be judgment debtor in respect of the liability of the insurer. In Halsbury's Laws of England, Fourth E....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....om the liability when (a) a named person drives the vehicle; (b) it was being driven by a person who did not have a duly granted licence; and (c) driver is a, person disqualified for holding or obtaining a driving licence. We take note of the fact that whereas in Section 3 the words used are 'effective licence', it has been differently worded in Section 149(2) i.e. 'duly licensed'. If a person does not hold an effective licence as on the date of the accident, he may be liable for prosecution in terms of Section 141 of the Act but Section 149 pertains, to insurance as regard third party risks. A provision statute which is penal in nature vis-a-vis a provision which is beneficent to a third party must be interpreted differently. It is also well known that the provisions contained in different expressions are ordinarily construed differently. The words 'effective licence' used in Section 3, therefore, in our opinion cannot be imported for Sub-section (2) of Section 149 of the Motor Vehicles Act. We must also notice that the words 'duly licensed' used in Sub-section (2) of Section 149 are used in past tense. Thus, a person whose licence is or....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....he same obligation applies in respect of a judgment against a person not insured by the policy in respect of such a liability, but who would have been covered if the policy had covered the liability of all persons, except that in respect of liability for death or bodily injury. Such a breach on the part of the insurer must be established by the insurer to show that not only the insured used or caused or permitted to be used the vehicle in breach of the Act but also that the damage he suffered flowed from the breach. Under the Motor Vehicles Act holding of a valid driving licence is one of the conditions of contract of insurance. Driving of a vehicle without a valid licence is an offence. However, the question herein is whether a third party involved in an accident is entitled to the amount of compensation granted by the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal although the driver of the vehicle at the relevant time might not have a valid driving licence but would be entitled to recover the same from the owner or driver thereof. It is trite that where the insurers relying upon the provisions of violation of law by the assured takes an exception to pay the assured or a third party, t....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....le will be driven by a licensed driver. It must be established by the insurance company that the breach was on the part of the insured and that it was the insured who was guilty of violating the promise or infringement of the contract. Unless the injured is at fault and is guilty of a breach, the insurer cannot escape from the obligation to indemnify the insured and successfully contented that he is exonerated having regard to the fact that the promisor (the insured) committed a breach of his promise. Not when some mishap occurs by some mischance. When the insured has done everything within his power inasmuch as he has engaged a licensed driver and has placed the vehicle in charge of a licensed driver, with the express or implied mandate to drive it himself, it cannot be said that the insured is guilty of any breach." In B.V. Nagaraju v. Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd. : AIR 1996 SC 2054 , Punchhi, J. speaking for the Division Bench followed Skandia (supra) and read down the exclusionary term of the insurance policy to serve the main purpose thereof, holding : "The National Commission went for the strict construction of the exclusion clause. The reasoning that the extra pas....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....provides that licences to drive motor vehicles may be given to persons of specified ages, the ages varying with the class of the vehicle; and when a person is driving a vehicle of the category which by his age he is entitled to drive, there is, I think, some presumption that, as far as age reflects on competency., he is competent to drive it. Certainly this would be an honest and reasonable view for an insured person to take in a case where he had not been expressly limited by the terms of the policy to the employment of drivers over 21. Certain categories of vehicles may not, by law, be driven by persons under 21, and as the framework of the proposal form was apt to cover an application for insurance of such vehicle, he might reasonably consider that Q.9 was designed to all attention to this tact. If insurers take a different view as to the proposer age of drivers from the view of the law, it is open to them - indeed, I would say incumbent upon them - to make this clear by the insertion, of specific provisions in the policy and not attempt to secure their ends by a side wind. I hold that there was no such alteration in the subject-matter of the insurance as would or could avoid th....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....a little later. Gjan Chand's case (supra) relied on behalf of the petitioner is of not much assistance. Therein this Court was dealing with peculiar fact situation obtaining therein. In that case the insured admittedly did not have any driving licence and in that situation, the insurance company was held to be not liable. The Bench noticed the purported conflict between the two sets of decisions but did not refer the matter to a larger Bench. It merely distinguished the cases on their own facts stating : "Under the circumstances, when the insured had handed 'over the vehicle for being driven by an unlicensed driver, the Insurance Company would get exonerated from its liability to meet the claims of the third party who might have suffered on account of vehicular accident caused by such unlicensed driver. In view of the aforesaid two sets of decisions of this Court, which deal with different fact situations, it cannot be said that the decis4ions rendered by this Court in Skandia Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Kokiolaben Chandravadan and the decision of the Bench of three learned Judges in Sohan Lal in any way conflict with the decisions rendered by this Court in the cases ....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....g a duly licensed driver to drive the vehicle in question and it has not been established that it was the insured who allowed the vehicle to be driven by a person not duly licensed, then the insurance company cannot repudiate its statutory liability under Sub-section (1) of Section 96..." A bare perusal of the provisions of Section 149 of the Act leads to only one conclusion that usual rule is that once the assured proved that the accident is covered by the compulsory insurance clause, it is for the insurer to prove that it comes within an exception. In MacGillivray on Insurance Law it is stated: "25-82 Burden of Proof: Difficulties may arise in connection with the burden of proving that the facts of any particular case fall within this exception. The usual rule is that once the assured has proved that the case comes within the general risk, it is for the insurers to prove that it comes within an exception. It has therefore been suggested in some American decisions that, where the insurers prove only that the assured exposed himself to danger and there is no evidence to show why he did so, they cannot succeed, because they have not proved that this behavior was volun....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....se there exists sufficient material to draw an adverse inference against either the insurer or the insured, the Tribunal may do so. The parties alleging breach must be held to have succeeded in establishing the breach of conditions of contract of insurance on the part of the insurer by discharging its burden of proof. The Tribunal, there cannot be any doubt, must arrive at a finding on the basis of the materials available on records. In the aforementioned backdrop, the provisions of sub-sections (4)and (5) of Section 149 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 may be considered as the liability of the Insurer to satisfy the decree at the first instance. A beneficent statute, as is well known, must receive a liberal interpretation [See Bangalore Water Supply & Sewerage Board etc. v. A. Rajappa and Ors. etc. : (1978)ILLJ349SC , Steel Authority of India Ltd. and Ors. v. National Union Waterfront Workers and Ors., ITI Ltd. v. Siemens Punjab Communications Network Ltd. : [2002]3SCR1122 , Amrit Bhikaji Kale and Ors. v. Kashinath Janardhan Trade and Anr. : [1983]3SCR237 and Kunal Singh v. Union of India and Anr. : (2003)IILLJ735SC . The liability of the insurer is a statutory one. The li....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
.... stated: "Section 149(2) relates to the liability of the insurer and speaks of a situation in regard to which no sum shall be payable by an insurer to whom notice of bringing of any such proceeding is given, could defend the action stated in the said statutory prevision. The contention in the context would be found in section 149(2)(a) in the event of a breach of a specified condition of the policy enabling the insurer to avoid liability in regard thereto. In the process in regard to the right of the insurer to recover the amount from the insured, it would have to be seen by referring to section 149(4) successfully recovered from the insured. Section 149(4) says that where a certificate of insurance is issued, so much of the said policy as purports to restrict the insurance of the persons insured thereby by referring to any of the conditions mentioned and it is precisely enacted in regard thereto and that the liability covered by Section 2(b) as are required to be covered by the policy would not be available. The position is made further clear by the provisions enacting that any sum paid by the insurer in or towards the discharge, of any liability of any person wh....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
.... of the assured and if he does so, all defences open to the assured can then be urged by him and there is no other defence that he claims to be entitled to urge. He can thus avoid all hardship if any, by providing for a right to defend the action in the name of the assured and this he has full liberty to do. Secondly, if he has been made to pay something which on the contract of the policy he was riot bound to pay, he can under the proviso to Sub-section (3) and under Sub-section (4) recover it from the assured. It was said that the assured might be a man of straw and the insurer might not be able to recover anything from him. But the answer to that is that it is the insurer's bad luck. In such circumstances the injured person also would not have been able to recover the damages suffered by him from the assured the person causing the injuries... Similar view has been taken in Skandia's case (supra), Sohan Lal Passi's case (supra), Kashiram Yadav and Anr. v. Oriental Fire and General Insurance Co. Ltd. and Ors. : [1989]3SCR811 and several others. In Kamla's case (supra), a Division Bench of this Court summed up the legal position : "The position can be....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....Act, 1939. Furthermore, it is one thing to say that the insurer will be entitled to avoid its liability owing to breach of terms of a contract of insurance but it is another thing to say that the vehicle is not insured at all. If the submission of the learned counsel for the petitioner is accepted, the same would render the proviso to Sub-section (4) as well as Sub-section (5) of Section 149 of the Act otiose, nor any effective meaning can be attributed to the liability clause of the insurance company contained in Sub-section (1). The decision in Kamla's case (supra) has to be road in the aforementioned context. Sub-section (5) of Section 149 which imposes a liability on the insurer must also be given its full effect. The insurance company may not be liable to satisfy the decree and, therefore, its liability may be zero but it does mean that it did not have initial liability at all Thus, if the insurance company is made liable to pay any amount it can recover the entire amount paid to the third party on behalf of the assured. If this interpretation is not given to the beneficent provisions of the Act having regard to its purport and object, we fail to see a situation where b....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....ce Co. Ltd. v. Jagtar Singh and Ors. Hon'ble M. Srinivasan, CJ, as His Lordship then was, dealing with the case where a duly licensed driver was driving a vehicle but there was a dispute as to who was driving the vehicle. In that case the court referred to the judgment in Kashiram Yadav v. Oriental Fire & General Insurance Co. Ltd. and expressed its agreement with the views taken therein. In National Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Ishroo Devi and Ors. where there was no evidence that the society which employed the driver was having knowledge that the driver was not holding a valid licence, it was held the insurance company is liable. The court relied upon the decisions of this Court in Kashiram Yadav's case (supra), Skandia's case (supra) and Sohan Lal Passi's case (supra). WHEN THE: PERSON HAS BEEN GRANTED LICENCE FOR ONE TYPE OF VEHICLE BUT AT THE RELVANT TIME HE WAS DRIVING ANOTHER TYPE OF VECHILE : Section 10 of the Act provides for forms and contents of licences to drive. The licence has to be granted in the prescribed form. Thus, a licence to drive a light motor vehicle would entitle the holder there to drive the vehicle falling within that class or descriptio....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....ection (2) of Section 149 of the Act. Minor breaches of licence conditions, such as want of medical fitness certificate, requirement about age of the driver and the like not found to have been the direct cause of the accident, would be treated as minor breaches of inconsequential deviation in the matter of use of vehicles. Such minor and inconsequential deviations with regard to licensing conditions would not constitute, sufficient ground to deny the benefit of coverage of insurance to the third parties. On all pleas of breach of licensing conditions taken by the insurer, it would be open to the tribunal to adjudicate the claim and decide inter se liability of insurer and insured; although where such adjudication is likely to entail undue delay in decision of the claim of the victim, the tribunal in its discretion may relegate the insurer to seek its remedy of reimbursement from the insured in the civil court. WHERE THE DRIVER'S LICENCE IS FOUND TO BE FAKE: It may be true as has been contended on behalf of the petitioner that a fake or forged licence is as good as no licence but the question herein, as noticed hereinbefore, is whether the insurer must prove that the ow....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....he rules framed thereunder. It is now a well-settled principle of law that rules validly framed become part of the statute. Such rules are, therefore, required to be read as a part of main enactment. It is also well-settled principle of law that for the interpretation of statute an attempt must be made to give effect to all provisions under the rule. No provision should be considered as surplusage. Mandar Madhav Tambe's case (supra), whereupon the learned counsel placed reliance, has no application to the fact of the matter. There existed an exclusion clause in the insurance policy wherein it was made clear that the Insurance Company, in the event of an accident, would be liable only if the vehicle was being driven by a person holding a valid driving licence or a permanent driving licence 'other than a learner's licence'. The question as to whether such a clause would be valid or not did riot arise for consideration before the Bench in the said case. The said decision was rendered in the peculiar fact situation obtaining therein. Therein it was stated that 'a driving licence' as defined in the Act is different from a learner's licence issued under Rul....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....hat the insured did not take adequate care and caution to verify the genuineness or otherwise of the licence held by the driver. Our attention has also been drawn on an unreported order of this Court in Malla Prakasarao v. Malla Janaki and Ors. : (2004)3SCC343 which reads as under : "It is not disputed that the driving licence of the driver of the vehicle had expired on 20th November, 1982 and the driver did not apply for renewal within 30 days of the expiry of the said licence, as required under Section 11 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1939. It is also not disputed that the driver of the vehicle did not have driving licence when the accident took place. According to the terms of contract, the Insurance Company has no liability to pay any compensation where an accident takes places by a vehicle driven by a driver without driving licence. In that view of the matter, we do not find any merit in the appeal. The appeal fails and is, accordingly dismissed. There shall be no order as to costs." In that case, the Court presumably as in the case of Mandar Madhav Tambe's case (supra), was concerned with the terms and conditions of the contract of insurance. Before t....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....en opportunity to defend at all. Such a course of action may also be resorted when a fraud or collusion between the victim and the owner of the vehicle is detected or comes to the knowledge of the insurer at a later stage. Although, as noticed hereinbefore, there are certain special leave petitions wherein the persons having the vehicles at the time when the accidents took place did not hold any licence at all, in the facts and circumstances of the case, we do not intend to set aside the said awards. Such awards may also be satisfied by the petitioners herein subject to their right to recover the same from the owners of the vehicles in the manner laid down therein. But this order may not be considered as a precedent. Although in most of the case, we have not issued notices in view of the fact that the question of law has to be determined; we have heard counsel for the parties at length at this stage. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS : The summary of our findings to the various issues as raised in these petitions are as follows: (i) Chapter XI of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 providing compulsory insurance of vehicles against third party risks is a social welfare legislation ....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....nder Section 149(2) of the Act. (vii) The question as to whether the owner has taken reasonable care to find out as to whether the driving licence produced by the driver, (a fake one or otherwise), does not fulfil the requirements of law or not will have to be determined in each case. (viii) If a vehicle at the time of accident was driven by a person having a learner's licence, the insurance companies would be liable to satisfy the decree. (ix) The claims tribunal constituted under Section 165 read with Section 168 is empowered to adjudicate all claims in respect of the accidents involving death or of bodily injury or damage to property of third party arising in use of motor vehicle. The said power of the tribunal is not restricted to decide the claims inter se between claimant or claimants on one side and insured, insurer and driver on the other. In the course of adjudicating the claim for compensation and to decide the availability of defence or defences to the insurer, the Tribunal has necessarily the power and jurisdiction to decide disputes inter se between insurer and the insured. The decision rendered on the claims and disputes inter se between....