IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH FAO No.5132 of 2002 (O&M) Date of decision:30.11.2010 Oriental Insurance Company Limited ....Appellant versus Smt. Satya Devi and others ...Respondents CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE K. KANNAN ---- Present: Mr. Ashwani Talwar, Advocate, for the appellant. None for the respondents. ---- 1. Whether reporters of local papers may be allowed to see the judgment ? 2. To be referred to the reporters or not ? 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the digest ? ---- K.Kannan, J.(Oral) 1. The Insurance Company is in appeal challenging liability on the ground that the vehicle, alleged to have been involved in the accident, namely, a maruti car bearing registration No.DDV-4263, could not have been involved at all in the accident. This was on the basis that a vehicle having the same registration number had been involved in some other accident in the year, 1992 and for damage to the vehicle, the Insurance Company had met the claim of the owner under the terms of the policy and had obtained a transfer of the damaged vehicle to secure to itself the value of the scrap. The documents had been filed in Court proving the fact of transfer, sale and the scrap value realized by the insurer for the damage to the vehicle in the year, 1992. FAO No.5132 of 2002 (O&M) - 2 - 2. The present claim before the Tribunal was arose out of an accident in which the vehicle bearing registration No.DDV-4263 which was shown as a maruti car was purported to have been involved. In this case, the vehicle was not traced, the driver was not identified and the claim petition had been filed merely on the alleged involvement of the vehicle having registration No.DDV-4263. The Insurance Company was proceeded against only in its capacity as an owner of a vehicle having been transferred to its name when it had satisfied the claim of the owner previously in the year, 1992 for damage to the vehicle under the terms of the policy. It appears that the scrap dealer, who had purchased the vehicle from the Insurance Company had not taken steps to have the registration transferred in his name, though the proof of such transfer in favour of the scrap dealer was afforded through Ex.R1. The owner was also cited as the 9th respondent in the claim petition. 3. At the time when the appeal was filed, this Court has dismissed the appeal against the claimants and the matter can be, therefore, considered only for the issue of liability between the Insurance Company and the subsequent transferee. The issues whether the claim could be true and whether the vehicle could have been involved in the accident are no longer issues that fall for consideration when the appeal has been dismissed against the claimants. 4. I will take the transfer of vehicle from the Insurance Company to the 9th respondent-Aneesh Ahmed as established through exhibits R1, R2 and R3 which are respectively the press tender, the offer to purchase by the purchaser, and the letter of acknowledgment by the FAO No.5132 of 2002 (O&M) - 3 - transferee that he has taken the vehicle. The award of the Tribunal, under the circumstances, is modified entitling the appellant to recover the amount which has been awarded by the Tribunal against the transferee- respondent No.9. 5. The appeal is allowed to the above extent. (K.KANNAN) JUDGE 30.11.2010 sanjeev