F.A.O.NO. 245 OF 2005 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH F.A.O.NO. 245 OF 2005 Date of decision:6th October, 2010 National Insurance Company Ltd., having its regional office-1 at SCO 332-334, Sector 34-A, Chandigarh, through Sh. D.K.Negi, Dy. Manager, duly constituted attorney. .......Appellant Versus Surjit Kaur and others ........Respondents BEFORE: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE K.KANNAN Present: Mr. Paul S. Saini, Advocate, for the appellant. Mr. Parminder Singh, Advocate, 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, challenging the liability on the ground that the driver did not have a valid driving licence. The deceased was driving the vehicle himself and his name was admittedly Jarnail Singh. The licence produced before the Tribunal showed the name to be Jaswant Singh son of Gurdial Singh. The Tribunal accepted that Jarnail Singh and Jaswant Singh meant the same. There was no evidence before the Tribunal that Jarnail Singh F.A.O.NO. 245 OF 2005 2 had an alias as Jaswant Singh. It is as well possible that Jarnail Singh was brother of Jaswant Singh as their fathers name was the same. The Tribunal adopted a reasoning which is legally suspect that since the father's name was the same, the name Jaswant Singh must be understood as referring to the name Jarnail Singh. I cannot accept such a reasoning. 2. The award of the Tribunal is therefore, modified to provide for a right of recovery against the insured/owner on a finding that the driver did not have any driving licence and the insured had committed violation of terms of the policy. The appeal is allowed to the above extent. [K.KANNAN] JUDGE 6th October, 2010 Shivani Kaushik