231 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Date of Decision : 05.02.2026 NATIONAL INSURANCE CO. LTD. .... Appellant VERSUS RAM KUMAR & ORS .... Respondents CORAM : HON’BLE MRS. JUSTICE ALKA SARIN Present : Mr. Harjinder Singh, Advocate for the appellant.

Mr. Ankur Bali, Advocate for respondents No.1 to 4.

Mr. Vipin Kumar, Advocate for respondent No.6.

ALKA SARIN, J. (ORAL)

1. The present appeal has been preferred by the appellant (Insurance Company) aggrieved by the award passed by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Hisar (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Tribunal’) dated 10.04.2017. The parties are being referred to as the Insurance Company, the owner, the driver and the claimants for the sake of clarity.

2. Brief facts relevant to the present lis are that the deceased, namely, Chander Shekhar, was traveling on his motorcycle bearing registration No.HR-20Z-5019 make CD Deluxe on 25.08.2015 along with his younger brother, namely, Bhal Singh. They started from their village to get the diesel filled. When they reached the Petrol Pump, Bhal Singh got down from the motorcycle and Chander Shekhar started his journey on his motorcycle to Adampur. When he just traveled a little distance from the Petrol Pump, a Jeep Commander bearing registration No.HR-26F-6508 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the offending vehicle’), which was being driven by its driver at a high speed, came from the opposite direction and dashed into the motorcycle of the deceased. As a result, Chander Shekhar fell down. On seeing the accident, Bhal Singh reached the place of occurrence. Meanwhile the driver fled from the spot along with the offending vehicle. Chander Shekhar was shifted to Government Hospital, Adampur where he was declared brought dead. FIR No.252 dated 25.08.2015 under Sections 279 and 304A Indian Penal Code, 1860 Police Station Adampur was registered. Postmortem was also conducted at the General Hospital, Hisar. It was the case set up by the claimants that the deceased was 21 years of age and was working as a salesman in a shop under the name and style of Shri Ram Multi Brand, Adampur and used to earn ₹20,000 per month. Besides this, he was also working as an agriculturist and used to earn ₹2,00,000 per annum. The claimants were dependent upon the deceased.

3. The owner and the driver filed their written statement raising various objections qua maintainability, cause of action, locus standi and the claim petition being bad for mis-joinder and non-joinder of parties. On merits the date, time, place and the manner of the accident were refuted. It was further the stand taken that it is a false case which has been registered against the driver.

4. Insurance Company also filed its written statement raising the plea that the driver did not have a valid and effective driving licence and further denied that the narration as made in the claim petition was correct and that no accident, as described, had taken place. It was further the stand taken that the claimants were under legal obligation to prove the alleged accident. It was further the stand taken that the offending vehicle was being driven in contravention of the terms and conditions and limitation to use the vehicle. It was further the stand taken that the FIR was registered against the unknown vehicle and later on the name of the driver and the number of the offending vehicle was introduced on the basis of the supplementary statement after a period of 21 days.

5. On the basis of the pleadings of the parties the following issues were framed :

1- Whether accident in question took place on account of rash and negligent driving of respondent No.1 while driving vehicle bearing registration No.HR-26F-6508 ?

OPP

2- If issue No.1 is proved whether the petitioners are entitled to claim compensation, if so, how much and from whom ? OPP

3- Whether insured/ owner of the offending vehicle has violated terms and conditions of the insurance policy, if so to what effect ? OPR

4- Relief.

6. The Tribunal on issue No