The liability of an insurance company to indemnify a third party for injuries sustained in a motor vehicle accident is not affected by the failure of the owner of the vehicle to intimate the insurance company about the transfer of ownership of the vehicle, as required under section 103-A of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1939.

( 1 ) CONSIDERING different factual matrix in relation to effect and impact of non-intimation by the owner insured to the insurer at the time of transfer of a motor vehicle as required under section 103-A of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1939 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act')and the resultant liability of the insurance company in such a factual foundation and noticing cleavage of opinion in Nani Bai v. Ishaque Khan, 1995 ACJ 292 (MP); Nagindas v. Nasir All, 1997 ACJ 1093 (MP) and united India Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Sliamsuddin, 1999 ACJ 838 (MP), on the one hand and Sabir Hussain v. Maya Bai, 1997 ACJ 1258 (MP), on the other, a Division Bench of this court in M. A. No. 462 of 1997 and other connected matters thought it appropriate that the matter required to be decided by a larger Bench. In M. A. No. 192 of 1996 another Division Bench noticing the decision of this court rendered in the case of Balwant Singh v. Jhannubai, 1980 ACJ 126 (MP), and further taking note of the fact that there has been a Full Bench judgment of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh rendered in the case of Madineni Kondaiah v. Yaseen Fatima, 1986 ACJ 1 (AP), which has, according to the said Division bench, received approval of the Apex court in the case of Complete Insulations (P) Ltd. v. New India Assurance Co. Ltd. , 1996 ACJ 65 (SC), thought it apposite that the decision rendered in the case of Balwant Singh (supra) required reconsideration. We may hasten to state here that in the case of Madineni Kondaiah (supra) the full Bench of Andhra Pradesh High Court expressed the view that notwithstanding non-transfer of certificate of insurance the liability qua third party subsists in view of the provisions engrafted under sections 94 and 95 of the Act. In this factual backdrop two sets of references have been placed before us.

( 2 ) THE core question that requires to be answered is:"whether in absence of any intimation to the insurance company and the consequent non-transfer of policy, as envisaged under section 103-A of the Act, the policy relating to the vehicle lapses and as a logical corollary the insurer gets absolved from indemnifying the owner in respect of a third party?"

( 3 ) WE may state at the very beginning that what was quite a debatable and interesting question of law at one point of time because of cleavage of opinion of various High Courts, lost some of its importance and labyrinthine mask after the decision in the case of Complete insulations (P) Ltd. , 1996 ACJ 65 (SC), was delivered by the Supreme Court. However, as the point was not directly in issue it was thought appropriate, the controversy should be decided by a larger bench and, therefore, reference was made in M. A. No. 192 of 1996. It is to be noted here that the Division Bench, which had delivered the judgment in the case of umed Chand Golcha v. Daya Ram, M. A. No. 192 of 1996, was of the view that in the case of Complete Insulations (P) Ltd. (supra), the ratio laid down in Kondaiah's case, 1986 XCJ 1 (AP), which clearly stated that non-intimation by transferor to the insurer does not extinguish the rights of the victim of a road accident, a third party, to get compensation from the insurer, was approved.

( 4 ) IN this context we may profitably refer to section 103-A of the Act. It reads as under:"section 103-A. Transfer of certificate of insurance. (1) Where a person in whose favour the certificate of insurance has been issued in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter proposes to transfer to another person the ownership of the motor vehicle in respect of which such insurance was taken together with the policy of insurance relating thereto, he may apply in the prescribed form to the insurer for the transfer of the certificate of insurance and the policy described in the certificate in favour of the person to whom the motor vehicle is proposed to be transferred, and if within 15 days of the receipt of such application by the insurer, the insurer has not intimated