F.A.O.NO. 1761 OF 2006 and F.A.O.NO. 1762 OF 2006 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH F.A.O.NO. 1761 OF 2006 Date of decision:27th September, 2010 New India Assurance Company Limited having its Regional Office in SCO No. 36-37, Sector 17-A, Chandigarh through its duly constituted attorney. .......Appellant Versus Smt. Ranjit Kaur and others ........Respondents F.A.O.NO. 1762 OF 2006 New India Assurance Company Limited having its Regional Office in SCO No. 36-37, Sector 17-A, Chandigarh through its duly constituted attorney. .......Appellant Versus Smt. Baljinder Kaur and others ........Respondents BEFORE: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE K.KANNAN Present: Mr. Neeraj Khanna, Advocate, for Mr. Ravinder Arora, Advocate, for the appellant. None for the respondents. 1. Whether Reporters of local papers may be allowed to see the judgment? Yes/No 2. To be referred to the Reporters or not?Yes/No 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest? Yes/No K.Kannan, J.(Oral) 1. Both the appeals arise out of the same accident. In both the cases the Insurance Company is in appeal to advert to a situation F.A.O.NO. 1761 OF 2006 and F.A.O.NO. 1762 OF 2006 2 where the driver admittedly did not have a licence on the date of the accident i.e. 31.08.2003 but he had the licence which had already expired on 15.02.1999 and renewed subsequently on 3.09.2003. The Tribunal referred to the decision that held so long as a driver was not shown to be disqualified to hold a licence, it can not be stated that the licence was not valid. This aspect of the case has gained sufficient consideration from the Hon'ble Supreme Court, in several judgments and the Court has held that the licence which was renewed beyond a period of 30 days and after the accident, cannot be said to be an effective driving licence to protect the right of indemnity to the insured. The law has been settled to the above effect in the National Insurance Company V. Jarnail Singh and others (2007) 15 SCC 28, New India Insurance Company V. Suresh Chander Aggarwal (2009) 15 SCC 761 and National Insurance Co. Versus Vidhydhar Mahariwala (2008) 4 PLR 746. 2. The award of the Tribunal is modified to provide for a right of recovery against the insured. The appeal is allowed to the above extent. [K.KANNAN] JUDGE 27th September, 2010 Shivani Kaushik