Liability of the insurance company in case of violation of R.T.O. rules and breach of permit conditions

JUDGMENT :

1. Feeling aggrieved and dissatisfied with the impugned judgment and award dated 21.8.2006 passed by the learned Presiding Officer (Fast Track Court No.2) Ahmedabad (Rural) in Motor Accident Claims Petition No.1045 of 1995, the appellants have preferred present appeal.

2. By the said order, the Court has exonerated the insurance company from its liability and awarded Rs.4,93,000/- as compensation in favour of the appellants.

3. The short facts of the case are as under:-

3.1 The appellant-claimant has filed the claim petition claiming compensation of Rs.5,00,000/- for the injuries caused to the claimant in vehicular accident on 12.2.1995 in the luxury bus no. GT-X-3133 of Opponent-owner.

3.2 The Ld. Presiding officer has held the issues raised in the petition in affirmative in favour of the claimant and partly allowed the claim petition and awarded Rs.4,93,000/- by way of compensation alongwith 7.5% interest p.a. from the date of application till realization of actual amount with proportionate costs from the original opponent no.2 only i.e. owner of the vehicle.

3.3 The Ld. Presiding officer has held that insurance company is not liable to pay compensation to the applicant and dismissed the petition against Ori. Opponent No.3 — Insurance Company by order dated 21.8.2006.

3.4 Being aggrieved and dissatisfied with the aforesaid judgment and order the appellants have preferred present appeal.

4. Learned advocate for the appellant has submitted that the learned Tribunal has committed an error while passing the impugned judgment and award of exoneration, whereby the insurance company was exonerated from its liability. It is also further contended that learned Tribunal has not considered the injury caused to the injured in its true and proper spirit.

4.1 Learned advocate for the appellant has submitted that considering the settled legal principle enunciated by the Ho’ble Apex Court in the case of Lakshmi Chand vs. Reliance General Insurance reported in (2016) 3 SCC 100 liability of the insurance company is required to be fasten, as the condition of the violation of the R.T.O. rules is not come in the way of the liability of the insurance company, in case of Section 149(2) of the Motor Vehicles Act, while deciding the claim petition. He further submitted that the deceased cannot be held as breach of the terms of the conditions of the policy. He relied upon the decision of the Apex Court in case of Lakshmi Chand (supra) relevant paragraph of the said decision reads as under:-

“5. The respondent-Company filed a detailed written statement before the District Forum disputing the claim of the appellant. It took the plea that the complainant had violated the terms and conditions of the policy, as five passengers were travelling in the goods-carrying vehicle at the time of accident, whereas the permitted seating capacity of the motor vehicle of the appellant was only 1+1.

6. The District Forum on the basis of the pleadings of the parties and the materials on record considered the judgment of the National Commission in the case of National Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Pravinbhai D. Prajapati, wherein it was held that if the number of persons travelling in the vehicle at the time of the accident did not have a bearing on the cause of accident, then the mere factum of the presence of more persons in the vehicle would not disentitle the insured claimant from claiming compensation under the policy towards the repair charges of the vehicle paid by the appellant. The District Forum accordingly directed the respondent- Company to settle the claim of the appellant on nonstandard basis upto 75% of the amount spent for effecting repairs to the damaged vehicle after taking into consideration the claim amount of Rs.1,64,033/-. The District Forum further directed the respondent- Company to settle the amount to be paid to the appellant along with interest at the rate of 9% per annum from the date of lodging of the claim by the appellant with the respon