The admission of the driver of the offending vehicle regarding not holding a driving licence influenced the court's decision to grant recovery rights to the appellant against the registered owner and the purchaser of the vehicle.

J.R. MIDHA, J.

1. The appellant has challenged the award of the learned Tribunal whereby compensation of Rs. 2,52,000/- has been awarded to claimants-respondent Nos. 6 and 7. The appellant is the insurer of the offending vehicle and has been held liable to pay the compensation.

2. The learned Counsel for the appellant submits that the offending vehicle was driven by respondent No. 5 at the time of the accident and respondent No. 5 was not holding any driving licence at the time of the accident and, therefore, the appellant is entitled to recovery rights against the respondent Nos. 1 and 2.

3. Respondent No. 5 is the driver of the offending vehicle and he appeared in the witness-box before the Claims Tribunal as R4W3 and admitted that he was never holding any licence to drive any vehicle. R4W3 further admitted that even at the time of appearing before the Claims Tribunal in the witness-box, he was not holding any licence to drive any vehicle. In view of the aforesaid admission of respondent No. 5, the appellant is entitled to recovery rights against respondent Nos. 1 and 2. Respondent No. 1 is the registered owner of the offending vehicle and respondent No. 2 is the purchaser of the said vehicle and the appellant is entitled to recovery rights against both of them.

4. The appeal is allowed and the impugned award is modified to the extent that appellant is granted recovery rights to recover the award amount from respondent Nos. 1 and 2.

5. The statutory amount deposited by the appellant along with this appeal be refunded back to the appellant through counsel within four weeks.