MISCELLANEOUS APPEAL UNDER SECTION 173 OF THE MOTOR VEHICLES ACT, 1988 APPELLANT/ z (insurer) ' /ationa1 Insuranm Co. Ltd., Through its Assistant Manager, B- 1, Taha Complex, 2nd Floor, “Ring Road No.2, Priyadarshini Nagar, Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh. Versus — I £9lajmants) @R / Devlal Verma, Aged about 36 years, S / o Shivkali Verma, Occupation: Registered owner of vehicle LGV (Matador) No. CG—O4/ ZB— 2467, R/o Village: Kharra, PS: Berla, District: Durg, Chhattisgarh. X Meena Bai @ Meera Bai, Widow of Late Dheer Singh Darro (Thakur), Aged about 30 years; Caste: .Gond, Occupation: Housewife. Mahendra Kumar, S/o Late Dheer Singh Darro (Thakur), Aged about 14 years, Caste: Gond (Minor). IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BILASPUR CHHATTISGARH Miscellaneous A eal No. g i) of 2005 Qivision Bench t N RESPONDENTS/ z Priver) \owt "/ :kegiaran S/o ra@ Guddu Das Valshnav Sharan, f9\ i My .- Cged :about 29 years /\Q xxffy .l-Q, . Ste M. a” 19. .11... O V'ais?n§:i,ver LGV Tggpauon ix Q‘ 4-07 (Matador) ‘No.CG- a ’\ Q. Q‘ ' é" “‘ Q‘e'e,‘ ‘ _... O4 KhéZmB Berl a, 2467’ PS: B’e R92, ¥11£§§§ Dlstmct: Durg, W Chha, attlsgarh ‘_ Dlstmct: Wi " 4W Desh Kumar, S/o Late Dheer Singh Darro (Thakur), Aged about 2 years, Caste: Gond (Minor). Kum. Nisha, D/o Late Dheer Singh Darro (Thakur), Aged about 6 years (Minor). Sadaram Darro (Thakur), S/o Late Ranjan Singh, Aged about 75 years, Caste: Gond. Jamun Bai, W/o Sadaram Darro (Thakur), Aged about 7O years, Caste: Gond, Occupation: Housewife. Respondents/claimants No.4, 5 8a 6 are minors through their mother Meena Bai @ Meera Bai, Widow of Late Dheer Singh Darro (Thaku ). Respondents/claimants No.3 to 8 all residents of Quarter No. 16/2, Road No.Avenue-B, Sector- 1 , Bhilai Nagar, PS: Chhawni, District: Durg, AND Behind Station, Kailash Nagar, PS: Mohan Nagar, Durg, District: Durg, Chhattisgarh. National Insurance Company Ltd. HIGH COQET OF CHHATTiSGARg AT glLASPUg M MISCELLANEOUS APPEAL No. 511 OF 2005 APPELLANTI glNSURER} Vgrsus Virendra @ Guddu Sharan and others. M APPEAL U/S 173 OF THE MOTOR VEHICLE ACT 1988 DB: Hon'ble Shri LM. Quddusi RESPONDENTS & gon’bte Shri N.K. Agarwal, JJ.) Present : Shri Sourabh Sharma, counsel for the appeuant. m A I § Shri Shri No.3 Vijay RS. to 8. Pate}, Kumar counsel Sahu, counsel for respondents for respondents N0. 1 & 2. ' ‘ 1 ”l ORAL ORDER (Passed on 06th day of October, 2010) The insiant appeal has been preferred by the ‘1 I appellanfflnsuranceCompany against the impugned award dated t L 08—02-2005 passed by First Additional Motor 'Accident Claims Tribunal, Durg (for short ‘the Tribunal’) in claim case No.8!2004. 2. Brief facts of the case are that on 25-08-2001 Dhir Singh Darro (since deceased) while travelling in the LGV Tate-407 bearing registration No. C.G. 04/ZB-2467, which was driven by respondent No.1. on the highway Nandini-Berla the said-vehicle met with an accident due to which the deceased/Dhir Singh Darro succumbed to the injuries sustained in the said accident. ' of 3. the The deceased, claimants, preferred unfortunate .an parents, application widow before and minor the Tribunal chiidren L concerned, under Section 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act, claiming compensation to the tune of Rs. 10,78,739l- for the death of the deceased in the said accident. ’ " 4. Learned Tribunal on a close scrutiny of the evidence, material placed on record and submissions made by the parties, awarded a sum of Rs.5,80,736i— as compensation against the non-applicant Nos/appellant herein along with interest @ 9% per annum. A$ 5. ‘We have heard the learned counsel for the appellant and aiso perused the records of the Tribunal. 6. Records of the lower Court show that on 05-02-2005, the polity was med and the same was admitted by the claimants and hence it became an admitted document. The deceased was in Government service and was a constable in the police department, thus, he was not a labour working in the goods vehicle. A perusal of the insurance Policy shows that the policy is statutory which covers the risk in accordance’wlth Section 147 of the Motor Vehicles Act and which does not cover the risk ofrgratuitous passengers being carried in the goods vehicle. 7 7. in the written statement, this ground was taken on behalf of the insurance Company that they had not covered the risk of the gratuitous passengers as the deceased was sitting in the goods vehicle as gratuitous passenger. >8: K The Hon’ble Apex Court in the matter of New India Assurance Co. Ltd. Vs. Asha Rani and others; (2003) 2 SCC 223, has held that the risk of gratuitous or non~gratuitous passenger is not covered under the policy. 9. ln view of the above. we hold that the appellant/insurance Company was not liable to pay compensation to the claimants. Therefore, we allow this appeal. The appellantllnsurance Company shall not be liable to pay compensation awarded by the claims Tribunal concerned and the owner of the vehicle is responsible to pay the amount awarded as compensation. 10. The impugned award of the Tribunal concerned ismoditied to the above extent. The amount which is in deposit shall be refunded to the insurance Company and if the same has already been disbursed and withdrawn by the claimants, it will be open for the Insurance Company to recover the same from the owner of the vehiéle. Kvr‘ Sdl- ‘ Sd/- l.M.Quddusi Judge N.K. Agawal Judge