JUDGMENT :

1. The short question to consider in these two Civil Miscellaneous Appeals is liability of an insurer to indemnify the insured in case of transfer of the vehicle vis-à-vis the workmen, in terms of Section 3(1) of Workmen Compensation Act.

2. Both these matters are being considered together since the above question is involved in common and on account of arguments addressed for the parties together.

3. The facts concerned to these cases remain in short compass.

4. In C.M.A.No.561 of 2005 the first respondent was the driver of the lorry AP 9W 5731 on the date of the incident, viz. 06.07.2002. The registered owner of this lorry then was the second respondent and the policy of insurance issued by the appellant for this lorry was in his name. The third respondent had purchased this lorry by the date of the incident and the first respondent was working for the third respondent by then. He was being paid Rs.3,000/-per month towards salary.

5. On 06.07.2002, the version of the first respondent before the Commissioner was that he was loading and unloading the raw material like bamboo shafts for A.P.Paper Mills and in that process, when he was driving this lorry at the outskirts of Nak