FAO No.4 of 2009 -1- IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH FAO No.4 of 2009 DATE OF DECISION: December 15, 2010 NEW INDIA ASSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED ...APPELLANT VERSUS ROSHAN LAL AND OTHERS ...RESPONDENTS CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE K.KANNAN. 1. Whether reporters of local papers may be allowed to see the judgement. 2. To be referred to the reporters or not? 3. Whether the judgement should be reported in the digest? ---- PRESENT: MR. V. RAMSWAROOP, ADVOCATE FOR THE APPELLANT. MR. MAHARAJ KUMAR, ADVOCATE FOR RESPONDENT NO.1. NONE FOR RESPONDENT NO.2. MR. RAHUL RAMPAL, ADVOCATE FOR RESPONDENT NO.3. -*- K.KANNAN, J.(ORAL) 1. The only point urged in appeal by the Insurance Company is that the driver did not have a valid driving licence. At the trial, respondent No.1 produced a copy said to have been issued by the licencing authority in his name under DL No.4872 of 2001 said to have been valid from 31.1.2001 upto 30.1.2021. The original register had been summoned and produced before this Court. The witness who is a Clerk from the Licencing Authority at Ballia has given evidence to the effect that licence had only been issued in the name of Shivakant Choubay S/o J.S. Choubay and not in the name of FAO No.4 of 2009 -2- Vijay Kumar. 2. I find from the order that even before the Tribunal the letter of the licencing authority had been produced. Although the owner and the driver had been originally represented through counsel, there is no representation at all for them today. There is no explanation forthcoming from the owner or the driver about the details contained in the records produced through the licencing authority. Evidently, the driver was relying on a forged document and it must only be held that the driver was not duly licenced at the time of the accident. For violation of terms of policy the insurance company is required only to satisfy the claimants of Third Party and shall have a right to recover against the insured and the driver. 3. The award is modified and the appeal is allowed to the above extent. December 15, 2010 (K.KANNAN) Gulati JUDGE