F.A.O.NO. 2727 OF 1999 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH F.A.O.NO. 2727 OF 1999 Date of decision:1st September, 2010 United India Insurance Company Limited, Regional Office, SCO 177-178, Sector 8-C, Madhya Marg, Chandigarh through Dr. R.K.Singh, Assistant Manager. .......Appellant Versus Ajaib Singh and others ........Respondents BEFORE: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE K.KANNAN Present: Mr. D.P.Gupta, Advocate with Mr. Jagtar Kureel, 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 denying the liability on the ground that the driver did not have a valid driving licence at the time of the accident. This Court had called for a report on fresh evidence from the Tribunal by its order dated 23.07.2001. The report has come on record that shows that the original issue of policy was valid till 5.10.1990 and it was renewed only on 7.07.1997. The accident had taken place on 15.11.1995. Evidently, the driver did not have a valid driving licence at the relevant time when the accident took place. The Insurance Company could not have been made liable to F.A.O.NO. 2727 OF 1999 2 indemnify the insured for the violation of the terms of the policy, in terms of the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in National Insurance Company V. Jarnail Singh and others (2007) 15 SCC 28. 2. The liability shall subsist only to satisfy the claimants with a right of recovery from the insured/owner of the vehicle. 3. The award of the Tribunal is modified and the appeal is allowed to the above extent. [K.KANNAN] JUDGE 1st September, 2010 Shivani Kaushik