C.W.P. No.21866 of 2011 -1- IN THE HIGH COURT FOR THE STATES OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH C.W.P. No.21866 of 2011 Date of Decision.25.11.2011 Oriental Insurance Company Limited through its Deputy Manager, Oriental Insurance Company Limited, Regional Office, SCO No.109-111, Sector 17-D, Chandigarh .....Petitioner Versus Bal Krishan son of Sh. Heera Lal and another .....Respondents Present: Mr. Ashwani Talwar, Advocate for Ms. Veena Ashwani Talwar, Advocate for the petitioner. CORAM:HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE K. KANNAN 1. Whether Reporters of local papers may be allowed to see the judgment ? No 2. To be referred to the Reporters or not ? No 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest? No -.- K. KANNAN J.(ORAL) 1. The insurance company challenges the order passed by the Permanent Lok Adalat awarding the claim for damages to a person, who had lost the vehicle. The defence by the insurance company was that the fitness certificate, which was relied on in support of the vehicle, which was said to have been stolen, was a fabrication and it was not true. The liability for insurance company is founded on a contract and unless there is a term of the contract, which enables the insurance company to plead non-liability for absence of a fitness certificate, it cannot avail to insurer to plea that the amount claimed by the claimant on the terms of the policy will not be honoured. The absence of a fitness certificate may have other consequences but it will not take away the right of the claimant, who is an insured to claim damages C.W.P. No.21866 of 2011 -2- against the insurer for what the contract provides for. 2. The award passed against the insurance company by the Permanent Lok Adalat is, therefore, unexceptional and I will not find any reason to interfere with the same. The writ petition is dismissed. (K. KANNAN) JUDGE November 25, 2011 Pankaj*