IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH FAO No.1739 of 1995 Date of decision:16.08.2010 The New India Assurance Company Limited ....Appellant versus Faqir Chand and others ...Respondents II. FAO No.1741 of 1995 New India Assurance Company Limited ....Appellant versus Prem Lata Sharma and others ...Respondents CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE K. KANNAN ---- Present: Mr. Deepak Suri, 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 the award on the issue of liability on the ground that the insurer's driver, who was responsible for the accident, was not duly licensed at the relevant date of the accident. It was brought out in evidence that the accident took place FAO No.1739 of 1995 - 2 - on 06.01.1991 and the driver's licence which had been issued by the Licensing Authority at Saharanpur, had expired on 18.01.1985 itself. The driver had obtained a renewal of the licence only subsequently on 19.03.1991 i.e., two months after the accident. The Tribunal held that since he had a renewal although done subsequently, the insurer was liable. This reasoning conflicts with the decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in National Insurance Company Versus Vidhyadhar Mahariwala- 2008 (4) PLR 746 and the decision in National Insurance Company Limited Versus Jarnail Singh-2007(15) SCC 28. 2. The liability of the Insurance Company shall still be to satisfy the claim of the claimants with the right of recovery against the owner/insurer of the vehicle. 3. The award of the Tribunal is modified and the appeal is allowed to the above extent. (K.KANNAN) JUDGE 16.08.2010 sanjeev