Case: Natinal Insurance Company Limited Vs. Bakul Rani Dutta and Anr

The petitioner is a nationalised insurance company. When a claim was made against them on the allegation that the vehicle involved in an accident had been insured with them the insurance company had chosen to contest the claim on many grounds except the ground that the vehicle was not insured with them. Till the award was passed by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal the insurance company did not do even a wee bit to ascertain whether the particular vehicle was insured with them or not. Even after the award was passed they did not come to ..2/- :2: know whether the vehicle was insured with them or not for a very long time. After a long interval of 459 days elapsed the insurance company suddenly came to know that the vehicle was not insured with them. Then they preferred an appeal before the High Court. The application for condonation of delay was not granted by the High Court as per the impugned judgment. Learned Judges of the Division Bench of the High Court expressed surprise how a nationalised insurance company can be so negligent as what they have exhibited in this case. Even today the insurance company could not satisfy us whether they have evolved any machinery (with all the advancements in the computer engineering technology) for making an easy check up whether a particular vehicle is insured with them or not. We are aware that it is public money which the insurance company is called upon to pay as per the award. When a vehicle was not insured with them it is public money that goes out. But the inertia on the part of the officers of the insurance company is so woeful that no indulgence can be shown to the petitioner. It is open to the insurance company to take steps for realising the award amount from the officer/officers who are responsible for such gross negligence.For filing this Special Leave Petition also there is an inordinate delay of 329 days for which no satisfactory explanation has been offered.

Decision:
0[ds]Learned Judges of the Division Bench of the High Court expressed surprise how a nationalised insurance company can be so negligent as what they have exhibited in this case. Even today the insurance company could not satisfy us whether they have evolved any machinery (with all the advancements in the computer engineering technology) for making an easy check up whether a particular vehicle is insured with them or notWe are aware that it is public money which the insurance company is called upon to pay as per the award. When a vehicle was not insured with them it is public money that goes out. But the inertia on the part of the officers of the insurance company is so woeful that no indulgence can be shown to the petitionerIt is open to the insurance company to take steps for realising the award amount from the officer/officers who are responsible for such gross negligence.For filing this Special Leave Petition also there is an inordinate delay of 329 days for which no satisfactory explanation has been offered.