The central legal point established is the obligation of the Insurance Company to satisfy the compensation award, highlighting the beneficial nature of the Motor Vehicles Act.

JUDGMENT :

Devendra Kumar Arora, J.

Heard Mr. Satyajit Banerji, learned Counsel for the appellant and Mr. Vivek Madhok, learned Counsel for the respondents/claimants.

2. The instant First Appeal From Order under Section 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 arises out of the judgment and award dated 3.3.2018 passed by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal/Special Judge, Court No.2, Lucknow (hereinafter referred to as the "Tribunal"), in Claim Petition No. 592 of 2010 : Smt. Geeta Rawat and another Vs. Chandrapal Singh and another, whereby the Tribunal, while allowing the claim petition partly, directed the appellant-Insurance Company to pay the compensation amounting to Rs.692685/- together with simple interest @ 7% per annum from the date of filing claim petition till its payment, to the claimants within a period of thirty days. However, liberty was granted to the appellant-Insurance Company to recover the amount of compensation together with interest from the owner of the vehicle (respondent No.3 herein).

3. Shorn of unnecessary details, the facts of the case are as under :

On 22.11.2010, deceased Hardev Prasad Rawat was going from Lucknow to Bihar via Sultanpur Road as a passenger with a Car, bearing registration No. U.P. 32/C.V. 9032 and when the Car reached near Gattani Petrol Pump, Police Station Gosaiganj, Lucknow at about 1:40 AM, then, driver of the Truck, bearing registration No. U.P.32/A.N.0203, while driving it rashly and negligently, hit the Car, as a consequence of which, Hardev Prasad Rawat sustained grievous injuries and died on the spot.

4. In order to get compensation, wife and son of the deceased had approached the Tribunal by means of Claim Petition No. 592 of 2010, claiming compensation of Rs.98,00,000/- along with 12% interest. The Tribunal, after appreciating the evidence on record and after hearing the parties, allowed the claim petition partly and directed the appellant-Insurance Company to pay Rs.6,92,685/- along with 7% simple interest per annum to the claimants and liberty was granted to the Insurance Company to recover the amount of compensation from the owner of the truck.

5. Factual matrix of the accident, resultant death of deceased Hardev Prasad Rawat and quantum of compensation have not been disputed by the appellant-Insurance Company.

6. The only ground raised by the learned Counsel for the appellant-Insurance Company is that the Tribunal while deciding issue No.2 i.e. whether the driver of truck bearing registration No. U.P.32/A.N.0203, was having valid and effective driving license at the time of accident, has clearly observed that driver of the truck Suraj Bhan was not having valid and effective driving license at the time of accident but the Tribunal, instead of fixing liability to pay the amount of compensation upon the owner of the truck, erred in fastening the liability to pay the awarded amount upon the appellant-Insurance Company.

7. To strengthen his submission, learned Counsel for the appellant-Insurance Company has relied upon the judgment of the Apex Court in United India Insurance Co. Ltd. Vs. Sujata Arora and others : 2013 (3) T.A.C. 29 (S.C.), judgment of this Court in The National Insurance Co. Ltd. Vs. Smt. Rajni Devi and 7 others (First Appeal From Order No. 2844 of 2016) decided on 16.9.2016 and United India Insurance Co. Ltd. Vs. Smt. Shashi Prabha Sharma and 4 others (First Appeal From Order No. 2174 of 2014) decided on 11.8.2015.

8. Per contra, learned Counsel for the respondents/claimants, while placing reliance upon the judgment of the Apex Court in National Insurance Co. Ltd. Vs. Swaran Singh and others : 2004 (1) T.A.C. 321 (S.C.) and Lal Singh Marabi Vs. National Insurance Company Limited and others : (2017) 5 SCC 82, has submitted that it is not in dispute that at the time of accident, the truck in question was duly insured with the appellant-Insurance Company, therefore, the appellant-Insurance Company has liability to satisfy the decree at the first instance and recover the aw