IMPORTANT POINTS
Plying a vehicle without permit is a fundamental statutory infraction. Not having permit cannot be equated with absence of licence or a fake licence or a licence for different kind of vehicle, or, violation of a condition of carrying more number of passengers.
In cases of such fundamental statutory infraction Insurer cannot be held liable to pay compensation. However, it may be made to pay the compensation in the first instance and recover the same from the owner and the driver.

JUDGMENT

Dipak Misra, CJI.

The legal representatives of the deceased, Jagir Singh, the husband of the second respondent, preferred a claim petition being MACT Case No. 70 of 2013 under Section 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (for brevity, ‘the Act’) before the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Pathankot (for short, ‘the tribunal’) claiming compensation to the tune of Rs. 36,00,000/-. The claim petition was filed on the basis that on 19.02.2013, Jagir Singh was travelling to Pathankot on his motor cycle and at that juncture, the offending truck bearing temporary registration No. PB06-6894 belonging to the appellant No. 2 driven in a rash and negligent manner hit the motor cycle of the deceased as a result of which he sustained multiple injuries, and eventually, succumbed to the same when being taken to the hospital. The claim put forth was sought to be sustained on many a basis which need not be adverted to.

2. The insurer, the first respondent herein, opposed the claim on the ground that the vehicle in question was driven in violation of the terms of the insurance policy and further the driver was not having a valid and effective driving license and, therefore, it was not obliged to indemnify the insured. That apart, a stand was taken that the vehicle did not have the permit on the date of the accident. On behalf of the owner of the vehicle and driver, assertions were made that the vehicle was insured with the first respondent as per the insurance policy, that the vehicle was registered and the driver had the requisite driving licence. Additionally, copy of the route permit of the offending truck was brought on record.

3. The tribunal noted that the vehicle was purchased in September 2012 and insured on 20.12.2012. It was registered on 26.02.2013. The accident, as stated earlier, occurred on 19.02.2013. The tribunal, placing reliance on the decision rendered by this Court in National Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Challa Bharathamma and others, (2004) 8 SCC 517 held that the insurer was not liable and proceeded to quantify the amount of compensation and determined the same at Rs. 15,63,120/. The tribunal directed the amount to be paid by the insurer along with interest at the rate of 9% from the date of award till its realisation and recover the same from the owner and driver of the vehicle. A further direction was given for attachment of the truck in question till the award was satisfied.

4. The award dated 20.11.2014 passed by the tribunal was challenged in FAO No. 1702 of 2016 before the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh. It was contended in appeal that the appellant No. 2, the owner of the offending vehicle, had deposited the necessary fees along with application on 19.02.2013 for issue of route permit and the same was issued on 27.02.2013. It was further urged that when the owner of the vehicle had already submitted the documents in the transport office for grant of permit along with the requisite fees, the tribunal was in error in holding that the vehicle was being plied without a valid permit. In support of the submissions, reliance was placed upon Ashok Kumar Khemaka v. Oriental Insurance Company Ltd. and other, 2014 (3) RCR(Civ) 1018 National Insurance Company Limited v. Kamlesh Kaur and others, 2006 (3) RCR(Civ) 634 and Moti Ram v. ICICI Lombard and others, 2015 ACJ 1793.

5. The High Court scrutinized Annexure A1 which was filed to justify the stand that the application for issue of the route permit was made to the competent authority and, on a scrutiny of the same, came to hold that the owner had not been able to establish that he had submitted the application for issue of permit before the accident. Referring to Section 66 of the Act and placing reliance on Challa Bharathamma case, the High Court opined that even assuming that the owner had already applied for grant of the permit before the accident, the same would not entitle the owner to ply the vehicle. It is worthy to note that the learned single Judge di