IMPORTANT POINT
Where driving licence of driver of vehicle had expired long before the accident and was got renewed only three days after accident, Insurance Company was justified in repudiating claim for damage to insured vehicle.

S.C. Vyas, President —This is an appeal preferred under Section 15 of Consumer Protection Act, 1986 challenging the order passed by District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Raipur (hereinafter called “District Forum” for short) in complaint case. No.405/06 on 11.06.08, whereby the complaint of the appellant for compensation of damages, as per insurance contract, on account of accident of his vehicle has been dismissed, holding that the driver of the vehicle was not having valid driving licence at the relevant time.

2. In nutshell, the facts of the case are that the appellant/complainant is the owner of Swaraj Mazda vehicle No.C.G.04/G-4072, which was insured by the respondent for a period commencing from 23.08.05 to 22.08.06. On 30.03.06 the vehicle met a road accident on account of failure of steering wheel. Information of the accident was given to the respondent insurance company then a surveyor was appointed by the insurance company, who assessed the loss to the tune of Rs.l,56,398/- but in spite of this report, the claim of the complainant was repudiated by the insurance company on the ground that the driver was not holding valid licence on the date of accident. Appellant preferred a complaint before District Forum, which also met result of dismissal after consideration by the District Forum, which brought the appellant before this Commission by way of this appeal.

3. Admittedly, the period of the driving licence of the insured had expired much earlier then the date of accident and after the accident, the driving licence was renewed by a competent authority. The only question for consideration in this appeal is whether the insurance company has committed any deficiency in service in repudiating the claim of the complainant on the ground that driver was not having valid driving licence at the time of accident.

4. Learned District Forum has, after due consideration, held that driver of the vehicle, as per documents annexure A-14, was not having a valid driving licence at the time of accident. The licence was renewed on 03.04.06 i.e. after 3 days from the date of accident. It has also been held that as per report annexure -OP -1, which has been submitted by the surveyor along with his report, licencing authority has certified that the person was having no licence during the period from 12.07.05 to 02.04.06 as the licence was not renewed. After recording these findings learned District Forum held that on the ground that driver was not having valid licence the insurance company has repudiated the claim of the complainant and by doing so, it has not committed any deficiency in service. The District Forum has also not accepted the contention of the complainant that the accident took place on account of failure of steering because there was no proof, in support of this contention.

5. Learned counsel for the appellant submitted that the driver was not having valid licence on the date of accident even then it itself is not sufficient ground for repudiating the claim by the insurance company. This might be a failure on the part of the insured to comply with the provisions of Motor Vehicles Act or conditions of the insurance policy. He submitted that it itself is not sufficient to deny the claim of the insured. It has also been argued that the incident happened because of mechanical fault of the vehicle and not on account of negligence on the part of the driver.

6. We have carefully examined the record of the District Forum. We find that in the surveyor’s report, the description of the accident has been given as under:-

“The accident occurred as per the details furnished that near village Tendo suddenly one cow came in front of the vehicle as a result of which IV driver steered to side road, thus vehicle lost balance went off the road and plunged into the ditch resulting the accident.”

7. Apart from this description of the incident, no other material is available on record to demonstrate as to how the incident happened. It