IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH FAO No.199 of 1997 Date of decision:25.08.2010 The New India Assurance Company Limited ....Appellant versus Pritam Kaur and others ...Respondents II. FAO No.200 of 1997 The New India Assurance Company Limited ....Appellant versus Ajit Singh and others ...Respondents CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE K. KANNAN ----- Present: Mr. L.M. Suri, Senior Advocate, with Mr. Neeraj Khanna, Advocate, for the appellant. Mr. Tejinderpal Singh, Advocate, for respondent No.5. ----- 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 two appeals are by the insurer of the truck which was found to be responsible for the accident resulting in death of the driver and injury to a passenger in a mini truck against which the insurer's truck had collided. The defence at the trial by the insurer was that the driver of the insurer's truck was not duly licensed. In support of its plea, a Local Commissioner was appointed, who brought out the fact that the licence had not been issued against the particular licence number in the name of FAO No.199 of 1997 - 2 - the driver, who was driving the truck at the relevant time. The Tribunal though held that the licence was fake, still made the insurer liable on a reasoning that the insurer had given a comprehensive insurance for the insured and, therefore, it has to shoulder the responsibility. 2. A comprehensive insurance may provide a valid cover to certain class of persons but it will not be an answer to a situation where a plea of violation of the terms of the policy by the insured is sought to be shown by the fact that the driver did not have a valid driving licence. In terms of the decisions in National Insurance Company Versus Swaran Singh (2004) 3 SCC 297 and United India Insurance Versus Divinder Singh (2007) 8 SCC 342, the Insurance Company could not have been left without providing it a right of recovery after satisfying the awards from the insured. 3. The awards of the Tribunal are modified to provide for a duty to satisfy only the claimants and obtain a right of recovery against its own insured/owner of the truck. 4. The appeals are allowed on the above terms. (K.KANNAN) JUDGE 25.08.2010 sanjeev