F.A.O.NO. 1329 OF 2000 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH F.A.O.NO. 1329 OF 2000 Date of decision:6th September, 2010 M/s United India Insurance Company Limited, Chandigarh through its Assistant Manager, Dr.R.K.Singh. .......Appellant Versus Bhadur Singh and others ........Respondents BEFORE: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE K.KANNAN Present: Mr. Sukhwinder Pal Singh, Advocate for Mr. Amit Rawal, 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. The Insurance Company is in appeal in the issue of liability on the ground that the licence copy produced by the driver was proved to be fake but the Tribunal fastened the liability on the insurer on the ground that the renewal was genuine. This issue has been settled by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in United Indian Insurance vs. Divinder Singh (2007) 8 SCC 342 which has laid down that the genuine renewal of a fake licence will be considered to be a fake licence. The driver produced the licence copy but gave no evidence. Owner did not give any evidence to explain his own belief about the licence and F.A.O.NO. 1329 OF 2000 2 under what circumstances he gave the employment to the driver. The Insurance Company has discharged his burden of proof that the driver was not duly licenced. Consequently, the liability of the insurer shall be only to satisfy the claimants and to recover the same against the insured. 2. The award of the Tribunal is modified and the appeal is allowed on the above terms. [K.KANNAN] JUDGE 6th September, 2010 Shivani Kaushik