Mr. Justice P.N. Nag, President—Both these appeals raise a common question of law and can be decided by a common judgment.

2. The question that arises for consideration in these Appeals is : whether the driver, who was driving the vehicle at the time of the accident, was not authorised to drive on the hill roads as no such endorsement was made by the Licencing Authority on the driving licence.

3. We may refer to facts briefly of Appeal No. 57 of 1995 with a view to appreciating the point at issue. Santokh Raj by way of complaint approached the District Forum, Mandi, that he owned a Maruti Van No. HPY-195 which was insured with the opposite party (hereinafter to be referred to as appellant) for the period 11.7.91 to 10.7.92. On 28.6.92, when the Insurance Policy was in operation, his vehicle met with an accident and was damaged. Report of the accident was lodged with the appellant, who deputed their Surveyor to assess the extent of damage and the Surveyor reported the damage to the extent of Rs. 25,000/-. The complainant (hereinafter to be referred to as respondent) approached the appellant to make payment on account of insurance claim but the claim was repudiated on 4.5.93 on th