FAO No.695 of 1989 -1- IN THE HIGH COURT FOR THE STATES OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH FAO No.695 of 1989 Date of Decision. 05.01.2011 The New India Assurance Co. Ltd., New Delhi through its duly constituted attorney ......Appellant Versus Smt. Ganga widow of Phool Chand and others ......Respondents 2. FAO No.696 of 1989 The New India Assurance Co. Ltd., New Delhi through its duly constituted attorney ......Appellant Versus Babu Ram son of Roora Ram and others ......Respondents Present: Mr. L.M. Suri, Senior Advocate with Mr. Neeraj Khanna, Advocate for the appellant. Mr. Jaswant Jain, Advocate for the respondents. CORAM:HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE K. KANNAN 1. Whether Reporters of local papers may be allowed to see the judgment ? No 2. To be referred to the Reporters or not ? No 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest? No -.- K. KANNAN J.(ORAL) 1. In both the cases, the issue for consideration is whether the insurance company could be made liable for death of passengers in a goods carriage. The liability on an insurer or a need for compulsory insurance for owners of goods travelling along with goods has come through an amendment to the Motor Vehicles Act only in the year 1994 by Amendment Act 54 of 1994 w.e.f. 14.11.1994. The previous law FAO No.695 of 1989 -2- was that there was no requirement to cover the risk for even the owner of goods travelling along with the goods. In other words, there was no liability for an insurer to cover the risk for a person, who was either a passenger or an owner of the goods travelling in a goods carriage. 2. The impugned award had cast a full liability on the insurance company. Before this Court, there has been a stay on operation upto 50%. The extent to which the stay had operated will enure to the benefit of the insurer and therefore, the claimants shall be entitled to recover the 50% of the amount and the claimants shall be entitled to enforce the portion of the award which was stayed only from respondent Nos.2 and 3, who are the owner and the driver. As regards the 50% of the amount, which the insurance company had already suffered and paid, the right of recovery will avail only against the owner/insured and not against the claimants. 3. The appeals are allowed subject to the directions mentioned above. (K. KANNAN) JUDGE January 05, 2011 Pankaj*