THOTTATHIL B. RADHAKRISHNAN, J.

1. This appeal is against the dismissal of an application for compensation under Section 163A of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, hereinafter referred to as the Act. Heard the learned counsel for the appellant and the learned counsel for the Insurer.

2. The appellant was travelling in an auto-rickshaw belonging to him and driven by the driver engaged by him. That motor vehicle collided with another motor vehicle. The appellant filed an application for claim invoking the no fault liability provision in Section 163A of the Act. The Tribunal quantified the compensation but held that, going by the police papers, the accident was as a result of the negligence of the driver of the claimant's auto-rickshaw and thus refused compensation.

3. In support of the appeal, the learned counsel for the appellant argued that in an application under Section 163A of the Act, the question as to whether the driver of the offending vehicle was negligent or not, cannot be put in issue since that is not the foundation for a claim under Section 163A of the Act. It is argued that there is no principle of law on which the compensation could have been refused. It is further a