The necessity of including the Insurance Company in claim proceedings under the Motor Vehicles Act is crucial for valid awards.

ORDER

1. Learned counsel for the appellant-non-claimants, i.e. Driver and Owner of Truck No.RJ-23/R-7641, Mr. Vijay Poonia submitted that the present appeal has been filed challenging the award dated 11.02.2019 passed by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Sikar in Claim Case No.212/2013 whereby the claim petition filed by the claimant-respondents has been allowed and an award of Rs.5,40,000/- along-with interest has been passed in favour of the claimants.

2. Learned counsel submitted that on claim petition filed by the claimants, the MACT, Sikar vide order dated 13.10.2014 deleted the Insurance Company as party respondent from the Claim Petition and further by a separate order dated 13.10.2014 passed an order under Section 140 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 while giving interim award of Rs.50,000/- in favour of the claimants.

3. Learned counsel submitted that since the Insurance Company was wrongly deleted from the array of respondents, as such, the appellant-Mahipal filed S.B. Civil Writ Petition No.13644/2014 challenging both the orders passed on the same date i.e. the order deleting the Insurance Company as party respondent and order of interim award.

4. Learned counsel submitted that this Court in S.B. Civil Writ Petition No.13644/2014 passed an order dated 12.12.2014 and stayed the operation of orders dated 13.10.2014 marked as Annexures 1 & 2 in the said writ petition.

5. Learned counsel submitted that in spite of the stay order passed by this Court, the MACT Sikar proceeded further to decide the claim petition finally and the impugned award has been passed against the present appellants.

6. Learned counsel submitted that once the order of deleting Insurance Company from the array of respondents was stayed by this Court, the MACT could not have passed the award only against the present appellants and the Insurance Company should have been also there as party respondent to contest the case filed on behalf of the claimants.

7. Learned counsel submitted that now recovery proceedings have been initiated by the claimants and as such, this Court is required to consider the interim prayer of the appellants to stay the execution proceedings filed by the claimants in the MACT, Sikar.

8. Learned counsel Mr. Vinay Mathur appearing for the respondents-claimants submitted that the award dated 11.02.2019 has rightly been passed and since Insurance Company was already deleted as a party respondent, the present appellants are solely responsible for paying the compensation to the present respondents-claimants.

9. Learned counsel further submitted that after the unfortunate incident, which is said to have taken place on29.11.2012, the claimants are not getting a single penny and even the interim award passed in their favour has not been given effect to.

10. Learned counsel further submitted that dispute between the Insurance Company and the present appellants should not result into depriving the present claimants to get the claim amount.

11. I have heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the material available on record.

12. In the facts and circumstances of the case, this Court finds that the appellants, at this stage, are required to deposit 50% of the total award amount within a period of four weeks from today and on depositing the said amount, the respondents-claimants will be disbursed the said amount, after taking an undertaking from them that in case, the appeal (S.B. CM.A. No.1288/2019) filed by Driver and Owner is allowed by this Court, the payments so made to them will be subject to final outcome of that appeal.

13. It is further made clear that on depositing the said amount, the Execution Proceedings pending before the MACT, Sikar shall not be given any effect.

14. List these cases on 21.09.2021 along-with S.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 13644/2014.