F.A.O.NO. 1089 OF 1992 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH F.A.O.NO. 1089 OF 1992 Date of Decision: 13th July, 2010 The New India Insurance Company Limited ........Appellant Versus Tota Ram and others .......Respondents Before: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE K.KANNAN Present: Mr. Neeraj Khanna, Advocate, for the appellant. None 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 on an award passed in favour of a third party making a claim for death of a girl aged 15 years. The Insurance Company made a general denial that the vehicle had not been insured with them. The insured had been made as a party but he did not file a statement. This according to the learned counsel appearing for the insurer meant that the insurer did not have a valid document to produce and the appellant cannot have the benefit of an award to be specified by the insured. The scheme of the Motor Vehicles Act is such as to protect the third party for risk of injuries or death and making it claimable against a solvent insurer. If the insurer and F.A.O.NO. 1089 OF 1992 2 the insured are before the Court and the claimant has impleaded them as bound by a contract of insurance, the insurer could be taken as having discharged the onus if only he had served the notice on the insured and inspite of notice he did not produce the policy of the insurance. The fact that the insured did not file a written statement is neither here nor there to say that there was no valid insurance. 2. The Tribunal has found that the Insurance Company had not discharged the onus of negative evidence of non insurance. The decision is correct. Therefore, the award is affirmed and the appeal is dismissed. [K.KANNAN] JUDGE 13th July, 2010 Shivani Kaushik