Liability in motor vehicle accidents requires clear evidence of vehicle involvement; both tractor and trailer must be insured separately.

JUDGMENT :

J. C. Doshi, J.

1. The present First Appeal, under Section 173 of Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, is preferred by the appellant – Insurance Company claimant being aggrieved and dissatisfied with the judgment and award dated 03.08.2013 passed by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Bhavnagar in Motor Accident Claim Petition No.481 of 2008.

2. Facts of the case are as under :-

2.1. On 21.02.2008 at 8.30 pm, deceased Himmatbhai was going from village Talaja to village Tared by driving his motorcycle No.GJ-24-8562 and when he reached near place of accident, it met with an accident with stationary tractor No.GJ- 4-H-7006 and Trailer No.GJ-4-T-8484, which was parked without any signal and hence, deceased sustain fatal injuries, which resulted into his death.

2.2. The claimant filed claim petition under section 163A of MV Act being MACP No.481 of 2008 claiming compensation of Rs.6,00,000/- along with interest jointly and severally from the opponents.

2.3. After appreciating evidence on record, learned Tribunal was pleased to pass judgment and award in tune of Rs.4,17,500/- with 7.5% interest from the date of claim petition till realization and directed opponent nos.1 to 3 to pay compensation jointly and severally.

2.4. Being aggrieved and dissatisfied with impugned judgment and award dated 03.08.2013, opponent no.3 - Insurance Company has filed present appeal.

3. Learned advocate Ms.R.V.Acharaya for the appellant - Insurance Company submitted that learned Tribunal only on hypothesis held that trailer cannot run without tractor and saddled liability on tractor owner and insurer, whereas, evidence suggest that no tractor was lying attached with trailer at the time of accident when deceased dashed with standing trailer. It is submitted that there is no evidence on record which indicates that Tractor No.GJ-4-H-7006 was attached with Trailer No.GJ-4- T-8484 parked on the spot of accident, yet for no reasons, tractor has been pulled into scene of accident and held full negligent in causing road accident, which resulted into filing of claim petition. It is submitted that presence of tractor has not been noted in any of evidence be it oral or documentary, yet liability was fasten upon tractor owner and insurer by learned Tribunal and thus it is totally erroneous finding and deserve to be set aside.

3.1. Upon above submissions, it is submitted to allow this appeal.

4. Per contra, learned advocate Mr.Vishal Thakkar for respondent no.8 Bhakabhai Ghelabhai Bharward registered owner of trailer would argue that respondent no.8 has sold trailer long back to some third party and that third party has sold trailer to Mr.Narshibhai who was allegedly possessor of trailer at the time of accident. It is further submitted that learned Tribunal was required to pass award against respondent no.9 - Narshibhai as he was possessor of vehicle on the date of accident but the learned Tribunal believed that since Mr. Bhakabhai Bharward is registered owner of the vehicle, he should be held liable to pay compensation. Learned advocate Mr.Thakkar referred to judgment of Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of Naveen Kumar v/s. Vijay Kumar reported in (2018) 3 SCC 1 to buttress contention that registered owner always cannot be held liable to pay compensation when sufficient evidence is on record to establish that vehicle was is possession of particular person in capacity of owner.

4.1. Upon above submission, it is submitted to pass necessary order.

5. Having heard learned advocates for both the sides, at the outset, let me refer to facts and manner in which road accident took place. According to claimant, deceased - Himmatbhai was riding Motorcycle No.GJ-24-8562 was heading from Village Talaja to Village Tared. Deceased when around 7.30 to 8.30 pm reached near Kanaiya Ginning on Talaja Mahuva Highway, dashed with Trailer No.GJ-4-T-8484 which was parked on the road without any signals or brake lights which could be visualized by driver of the vehicle coming from behind. Deceased havi