FAO No.1581 of 1997 -1- IN THE HIGH COURT FOR THE STATES OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH FAO No.1581 of 1997 Date of Decision. 16.09.2010 National Insurance Company Ltd., Rohtak having its Regional Office, Sector 35, Chandigarh through Shri R.C. Gupta, AO duly constituted attorney ......Appellant Versus Balraj and others ......Respondents 2. FAO No.1582 of 1997 National Insurance Company Ltd., Rohtak having its Regional Office, Sector 35, Chandigarh through Shri R.C. Gupta, AO duly constituted attorney ......Appellant Versus Smt. Hoshiari Devi wife of Jaipal and others ......Respondents 3. FAO No.1583 of 1997 National Insurance Company Ltd., Rohtak having its Regional Office, Sector 35, Chandigarh through Shri R.C. Gupta, AO duly constituted attorney ......Appellant Versus Smt. Prem widow of Sh. Dayanand and others ......Respondents Present: Mr. Neeraj Khanna, Advocate for Mr. Ravinder Arora, Advocate for the appellant. None for the respondents. CORAM:HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE K. KANNAN 1. Whether Reporters of local papers may be allowed to see the judgment ? 2. To be referred to the Reporters or not ? 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest? -.- K. KANNAN J.(ORAL) FAO No.1581 of 1997 -2- 1. All the appeals address the issue of liability on the ground that the deceased persons were gratuitous passengers. A defence to that extent was specifically taken in the written statement contending that they were not allowed as per the terms of the policy to be travelling in a goods carriage and therefore, there shall be no liability for the insurer to satisfy the claims. The fact that all the deceased persons were gratuitous passengers were brought out by the fact that the vehicle was already laden with wheat bags and they had sat over the bags. The statement of one of the claimants, who were injured and who had been examined as PW-5, Hoshiari Devi was that about 7 to 10 persons had boarded the truck from Dhansa Boarder and the truck had been loaded upto the side boarders. They have evidently obtained lifts to travel to the destination but even without any discussion on the same, the Tribunal fixed the liability on the insurer. This is the only substantial objection taken in appeal. The law is too well established with a judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in New India Assurance Company Limited Vs. Asha Rani 2003 ACJ 1, which lays down that there is no requirement in law for covering the risk to passengers in a goods carriage. The policy of insurance is produced before Court that shows that it was an Act Policy and no special cover had been taken and consequently, there was no liability to cover the risk for such persons. 2. The award of the Tribunal determining the liability on the insurer is set aside and the appeals are allowed. 3. I noticed that there has been no stay by this Court at the FAO No.1581 of 1997 -3- time of admission. Consequently, if the amounts have been recovered from the insurance company by the claimants, the insurer shall enforce the right of refund not against the claimants but from the insured only. (K. KANNAN) JUDGE September 16, 2010 Pankaj*