Case: Ramashray Singh Vs. New India Assurance Co. Ltd.

course enter into a contract by which the insurer agrees to cover additional risks. It is not the appellants case that apart from the policy of insurance there was any contract between the appellant and the insurance company. The policy has a clause which defines the limits of liability in respect of death or bodily injury to any person caused by or arising out of the use of the mother vehicle under Section II(i) of the terms and conditions of the Policy. In proviso (b) to Section II(1), it has been expressly stated that Except so far as is necessary to meet the requirements of the Motor Vehicles Act, the Company shall not be liable in respect of death of or bodily injury to any person in the employment of the insured arising out of end in the course of such employment. 9. A copy of the original policy was produced by respondents in the course of arguments. The appellant has objected to the production of the policy at this stage. We would have understood and upheld the submission had the appellant not based his claim on the policy. Indeed, in the absence of the policy, we could not have entertained the appellants claim at all. (See: Dr. T.V. Jose V. Chacko P.M. alias Thankachan 2001 (B) SCC 748). 10. The appellants first submission was that Shashi Bhushan Singh was a passenger. The appellants submission that the phrases any person and any passenger in clauses (i) and (ii) of sub section (b) to Section 147(1) are of wide amplitude, is correct. (See : New India Assurance Company vs. Satpal Singh and others (2000 (1) SCC 237) . However , the proviso to the sub-section carves out an exception in respect of one class of persons and passengers, namely, employees of the insured, in other words, if the person or passenger is an employee, then the insurer is required under the statute to cover only certain employees. As stated earlier, this would still allow the insured to enter into an agreement to cover other employees, but under the proviso to Section 147 (1)(b), it is clear that for the purposes of Section 146(1), a policy shall not be required to cover liability in respect of the death arising out of and in the course of any employment of the person insured unless. first: the liability of the insured arises under the Workmens Compensation Act, 1923 and second : if the employee is engaged in driving the vehicle and if it is a public service vehicle, is engaged as conductor of the vehicle or in examining tickets on the vehicle. If the concerned employee is neither a driver nor conductor nor examiner of tickets, the insured cannot claim that the employee would come under the description of any person or passenger. If this were permissible, then there would be no need to make special provisions for employees of the insured. The mere mention of the word cleaner while describing the seating capacity of the vehicle does not mean that the cleaner was therefore a passenger. Besides the claim of the deceased employee was adjudicated upon by the Workmens Compensation Court which could have assumed jurisdiction and passed an order directing compensation only on the basis that the deceased was an employee. This order cannot now be enforced on the basis that the deceased was a passenger. 11. The decision of the Full Bench of the Kerala High Court relied on by the appellant National Insurance Co. Ltd. vs. Philomena Mathew : 1993 ACJ 1116 was based on a construction of Section 95 of the Motor Vehicle Act, 1939 the corresponding section to which under the present Act is section 147. The relevant provisions of the two sections which are otherwise in pari materia are materially different in one respect. Section 95 covered a fourth category of employee after the three now mentioned in clauses (a)(b) and (c) to the proviso to Section 147(1)(b) viz; Where the the vehicle is a vehicle in which passengers are carried for hire or reward or by reason of or in pursuance of a contract of employment, to cover liability in respect of the death of or bodily injury to persons being carried in or upon or entering or mounting or alighting from the vehicle at the time of the occurrence of the event, out of which a claim arises. (emphasis supplied) 12. So a person carried in pursuance of a contract of employment would be a passenger and would be covered as such. The exclusion of this clause in the proviso to Section 147(1)(b) of the present Act bolsters our reasoning that employees other than the three mentioned are not covered by Section 147(1)(b). 13. The appellants next submission was that the concerned employee was a conductor. It is doubtful whether a khalasi and a conductor are the same. But assuming this were so, there is nothing to show that the appellant had paid any additional premium to cover the risk of injury to a conductor. On the contrary, the policy shows that premium was paid for 13 passengers and 1 driver. There is no payment of premium for a conductor. 14. The appellants final submission was that as the poli8cy was a comprehensive one, it would cover all risks including the death of the khalasi. The submission in unacceptable. An insurance policy only covers the person or classes of persons specified it the policy. A comprehensive policy merely means that the loss sustained by such person/persons will be payable upto the insured amount irrespective of the actual loss suffered. [See: New India Insurance Co. Ltd. vs. J.M. Jaya 2002 (2) SCC 278 ; Collnvauxs: Law of Insurance (7th Edition) p. 93-94]. 15. Consequently, although the appellants claim under the insurance policy arose under the Workmens Compensation Act, since the concerned employee was not engaged in the capacity of driver in respect of whom alone premium was paid apart fro the passengers, his claim is unsustainable.

Decision (1 = appeal accepted, 0 = rejected): 0

Explanation:
0[ds]The appellants submission that the phrases any person and any passenger in clauses (i) and (ii) of sub section (b) to Section 147(1) are of wide amplitude, is correct.However , the proviso to the sub-section carves out an exception in respect of one class of persons and passengers, namely, employees of the insured, in other words, if the person or passenger is an employee, then the insurer is required under the statute to cover only certain employees. As stated earlier, this would still allow the insured to enter into an agreement to cover other employees, but under the proviso to Section 147 (1)(b), it is clear that for the purposes of Section 146(1), a policy shall not be required to cover liability in respect of the death arising out of and in the course of any employment of the person insured unless. first: the liability of the insured arises under the Workmens Compensation Act, 1923 and second : if the employee is engaged in driving the vehicle and if it is a public service vehicle, is engaged as conductor of the vehicle or in examining tickets on the vehicle. If the concerned employee is neither a driver nor conductor nor examiner of tickets, the insured cannot claim that the employee would come under the description of any person or passenger. If this were permissible, then there would be no need to make special provisions for employees of the insured. The mere mention of the word cleaner while describing the seating capacity of the vehicle does not mean that the cleaner was therefore a passenger. Besides the claim of the deceased employee was adjudicated upon by the Workmens Compensation Court which could have assumed jurisdiction and passed an order directing compensation only on the basis that the deceased was an employee. This order cannot now be enforced on the basis that the deceased was a passengerIt is doubtful whether a khalasi and a conductor are the same. But assuming this were so, there is nothing to show that the appellant had paid any additional premium to cover the risk of injury to a conductor. On the contrary, the policy shows that premium was paid for 13 passengers and 1 driver. There is no payment of premium for a conductorAn insurance policy only covers the person or classes of persons specified it the policy. A comprehensive policy merely means that the loss sustained by such person/persons will be payable upto the insured amount irrespective of the actual loss suffered15. Consequently, although the appellants claim under the insurance policy arose under the Workmens Compensation Act, since the concerned employee was not engaged in the capacity of driver in respect of whom alone premium was paid apart fro the passengers, his claim is unsustainable