National Insurance Company Ltd. vs SANJAY KUMAR SIHOTIA

MR. Ratan Prakash, Member-National Insurance Company has filed this appeal against the order of the learned District Forum, Sikar dated 13.9.1999 whereby the claim advanced by the complainant Sanjay Kumar Sihotia has been decreed to an extent of Rs. 11,080/- along with interest @ 12% p.a. w.e.f. 21.8.1998 till the date of payment.

FACTS relevant for disposal of this appeal in brief are that the respondent Sanjay Kumar Sihotia had obtained an insurance from the appellant in respect of his Tata Bus No. R.J.-14-P-4504 for the period between 31.3.1998 to 30.3.1999. The said vehicle met with an accident on 17.5.1998. When a claim was advanced by the respondent claiming on amount of Rs. 21,916/- spent by him on repairs of the vehicle; the Company''s Surveyor assessed the loss at Rs. 13,870/-. Even this amount having not been paid and his claim being repudiated; he approached the learned District Forum who decreed the claim as aforesaid. Aggrieved now the appellant has sought to quash the order of the learned District Forum. We heard the learned Counsel for the parties and have examined the record carefully.

The only material question to be determined in this appeal is whether the bus driver Gajanand Thori had a valid driving licence on the date of the accident, and if so, the respondent is entitled to compensation etc. as claimed by him in his complaint.

IT has been argued by the learned Counsel for the appellant that in fact the driver of the aforesaid vehicle was in possession of a fake and false driving licence when the aforesaid vehicle met with an accident on 17.5.1998 and the driver Shri Gajanand was never issued a valid driving licence. In support of this argument the learned Counsel for the appellant has drawn our attention to the report of the Investigator of the National Insurance Company dated 3.11.1998 and of the correspondence entered by the Insurance Company with the Guwahati Regional Office, Technical Department pertaining to the verification of Driving Licence No. 2347/95/K/W2 and original Driving Licence No. 6035/92 Driver : Gajanand Thory. In the communication dated 3.11.1998 which has been sent by the Investigator Gokul Ch. Haloi of G.I.C. deputed for the purpose; it has been specifically expressed that the driving licence issued in question was never issued by the office of the District Transport Officer, Mokokchung (Nagaland) and that it is a false and fraudulent document. This Commission had an occasion to examine this aspect in detail in the case of Abdul Rauf v. National Insurance Company, and cross appeal filed by the National Insurance Company being Appeal Nos. 204 and 340/1998 decided on 6.6.2000 in the aforesaid judgment.

THE question whether the claim advanced by the complainant can be decreed even though the Insurance Company has ascertained that the driver who drove the vehicle in question, had a false licence was exhaustively dealt with. While rendering the decision this Commission considered two decisions of Hon''ble the National Commission in the case of Raj Kumar & Anr. v. New India Assurance Co., reported in I (1996) CPJ 241 (NC)=1986-97 National Commission & SC on Consumer Cases page 1934, and M/s. Essma Felts Pvt. Ltd. v. United India Insurance Co. Ltd., 1986-96 National Commission & SC on Consumer Cases page 2577 (NC). Hon''ble the National Commission while rendering the decision in the aforesaid two cases relied upon the law propounded by Hon''ble the Supreme Court in the case of M/s. Skandia Insurance Co. v. Kokilaben Chandravadan & Ors., I (1987) ACC 413 (SC)=1987 (2) SCR 752, wherein it has been held that "in the eyes of law, a fake licence is as good as non-est and of a non-est also amounts to a non-est licence, more so, when the renewal was made without verifying the genuineness of the original licence from its Issuing Authority". We, therefore, in the present case; as has been the view of this Commission in Abdul Rauf''s case (supra), are of the firm view that the driver of the vehicle in question did not possess a valid and effective driving licence on the date of the accident i.e. 17.5.1998 and hence the Insurance Company, the appellant has been within its right to repudiate the claim of the insured on the basis of the exclusionary clause that the driver did not possess an effective licence. THE repudiation by the appellant, therefore, cannot be faulted and hence to arrive at a decision by the learned District Forum contrary to it needs interference. Accordingly the appeal filed by the National Insurance Company Ltd. is allowed, order of the learned District Forum dated 13.9.1999 is quashed. THE amount kept under fixed deposit in the learned District Forum be paid to the appellant, the Insurance Company. In the facts and circumstances of the case both the parties shall bear their own costs. Appeal allowed.