FAO No. 512 of 2008 (O&M) 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH. FAO No. 512 of 2008 (O&M) Date of Decision: 15.2.2010 Deva Singh ....Appellant Versus National Insurance Company Limited and others ...Respondents CORAM : Hon'ble Mr. Justice Rajesh Bindal Present:- Mr. Parminder Singh, Advocate for the appellant. Mr. Paul S. Saini, Advocate for respondent No. 1-Insurance Company. RAJESH BINDAL, J This is an appeal against the award of the learned Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Karnal, filed by the owner of the vehicle on the ground that he was wrongly made liable to pay the compensation to the claimants and the Insurance Company has been wrongly absolved of its liability. Brief facts are that on 22.1.2003 at about 7:30 p.m, Ajit Singh alias Jeet Singh, was coming from his village towards Karnal to inquire about the health of his relative and when he reached near Bus stand of village Katlheri, a bullock cart was going ahead of the motor cycle and due to extreme fog, he could not notice the cart and the motor cycle hit against the said cart, as a result of which he sustained injuries and died on way to the hospital. The claim petition was filed by his LRs. The Tribunal while assessing the compensation directed the Insurance Company to pay the amount to the claimants at the first instance, however, recovery rights were given for getting the amount re-imbursed from the insured as the driving licence was not produced. In the appeal filed by the owner of the vehicle an application for additional evidence was filed seeking permission to produce the driving licence of the driver of the vehicle involved in the accident, who had unfortunately expired. After issuance of notice of motion learned counsel for the Insurance company appeared on October 12, 2009. He was directed to verify the genuineness of the driving licence produced along with the application for leading additional evidence. Today at the time of hearing learned counsel appearing for Insurance Company stated that on verification the driving licence was found to be genuine. Once that is so the only ground on which the Insurance Company was absolved of the liability and was given right to recover the amount from the owner, is no more available. Accordingly, the finding recorded by the Tribunal granting right to the Insurance Company to recover the amount of compensation from the FAO No. 512 of 2008 (O&M) 2 appellant, is set aside. The award of the Tribunal is not disturbed on any of the other findings. The appeal is allowed. (RAJESH BINDAL) 15.2.2010 JUDGE Reema