F.A.O.NO. 1732 OF 1995 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH F.A.O.NO. 1732 OF 1995 Date of decision:7th December, 2010 National Insurance Co.Ltd. Hisar through its duly constituted Attorney Shri R.C.Gupta Admn. Officer, Sector 35-B, Chandigarh. .......Appellant Versus Subhash and others ........Respondents BEFORE: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE K.KANNAN Present: Mr. R.C.Gupta, Advocate, Mr. Inderjeet Sharma, Advocate and Mr. Pardeep Bedi, 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 appeal is by the Insurance Company challenging the liability on the ground that the driver did not have a valid driving licence. The Insurance Company had complained that it did not have sufficient opportunity to prove that the driver did not have a valid driving licence. I had granted opportunity at the appellate court to send for the records and examine any competent witness from the Licencing Authority. On being summoned a Junior Assistant from the Licencing Authority, Solan brought the licence register and gave F.A.O.NO. 1732 OF 1995 2 evidence with reference to the licence number as found in the copy of the licence secured from the driver namely of licence No. 95380 of 1989. The register for the year 1989 is confined only to serial nos. 1 to 566 and no licence had been issued in the name of Pawan Kumar with licence no. 95380 of 1989. The first page that begins with 2.01.1989 and last page ends with 29.12.1989, shows that the last number of the licence was only 566. Evidently, the licence produced by the driver was fake. It had not been issued by Licencing Authority, Solan. 2. The liability of the Insurance Company shall therefore, be only to satisfy the claimants and recover the same against the insured- owner. 3. The award of the Tribunal is modified and the appeal is allowed to the above extent. [K.KANNAN] JUDGE 7th December, 2010 Shivani Kaushik