JUDGMENT

Dr. AR. Lakshmanan, J.

Delay condoned. Leave granted.

Heard learned counsel appearing on either side.

This appeal is directed against the final judgment and order dated 6.5.2003 passed by the High Court of Punjab & Haryana at Chandigarh in F.A.O. No.1587 of 2002. The appellant before us is the owner of the vehicle, a truck. The respondent is the insurer of the vehicle. The vehicle met with an accident on 11.10.1998. The claim petition was filed by the claimants before the Tribunal. Accepting their claim, the Tribunal awarded compensation of Rs.2.70 lakhs along with interest. The Tribunal held that the accident took place due to rash and negligent driving of the driver Mam Chand and that the appellant-owner had not committed any breach of the terms and condition of the insurance policy and that the Insurance Company is liable to make the payment of compensation amount to the claimants as insurer of the truck.

The Insurance Company, being aggrieved with the award passed by the Tribunal, filed an appeal before the High Court. The High Court modified the order passed by the Tribunal and directed that the Insurance Company would be entitled to recover the amount from the owner of the offending truck as per the law laid down by this Court in Kamla's case, reported in 2001 (4) SCC 342. The High Court also held that the appellant has contravened the terms and conditions of the insurance policy as the licence was not issued by the Licensing Authority, Hyderabad. The Insurance Company filed application under section 174 of Motors Vehicle Act for recovery of amount of Rs.3,27,890/- paid as compensation to the claimants by the Insurance Company. The appellant herein filed the reply to the application in which he averred that the application for recovery of compensation paid to the claimants by the Insurance Company is not maintainable as the rights of the parties have not been determined by the civil court. The Tribunal held that the Insurance Company is entitled to recover the money from the petitioner through the execution application and ordered to issue a certificate of recovery of amount of Rs.3,27,890/- under section 174 of Motor Vehicles Act and the same be sent to the District Collector.

Aggrieved against the order passed by the High Court, the appellant has preferred the above appeal in this Court. The above appeal was filed with a delay of 339 days. This Court issued notice on the special leave petition as well as on the application for condonation of delay. After notice, the respondent Insurance Company has also filed a counter affidavit and the matter was listed today for final hearing. At this stage no purpose would be served to dismiss the civil appeal on the ground of delay in filing the appeal. Since the notice was ordered on special leave petition and on the delay and the counter affidavit has already been filed, we condone the delay and heard the learned counsel appearing on either side, on merits of the rival claims.Mr. Mahabir Singh, learned Senior Counsel appearing for the appellant submitted that the High Court has not noticed the finding of the Tribunal, which is based on evidence, and that the Tribunal had recorded the evidence and had given its award after examining the evidence on record and the material facts, and therefore, the said considered order should not have been set aside by the High Court. He would further submit that the owner of the vehicle has taken adequate care and caution to verify the genuineness of the licence held by the driver. The Insurance Company also did not lead any evidence to show that due and adequate care was not taken by the owner. He would further submit that the High Court has failed to appreciate that there was no evidence that the appellant, who had employed the driver, had knowledge that the driver was not holding a valid driving licence. Our attention was also drawn to the evidence tendered. The appellant was examined as RW/1. He deposed that he wa