- (1.) THIS appeal under Section 173 of the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988 has been filed by the appellant/Oriental Insurance Company Ltd. against the judgment and award dated 12.10.2006 passed by M.A.C.T./District Judge, Udham Singh Nagar in M.A.C. No. 271 of 2004, Sri Kesar Singh Bisht & another Vs Smt. Purva Sharma & others.
(2.) BRIEF facts of the case are that on 22.07.2004, the deceased was travelling in Jeep bearing registration No. HP34A/1262 from Manikaran to Barsaini. At about 09:00 p.m., when the said jeep reached at Patel Office, suddenly, the driver of the jeep lost control over the same and it fell into the ditch. In the said acci­dent, the deceased - Jagdish Singh Bisht died at the spot. According to the claim petition the deceased was 22 years of age and used to earn Rs. 7,500/- by working in M/s Swastik Construction Company. The claimants are the parents of the de­ceased and dependents upon him. Hence, they have filed claim petition before the Tribunal for a sum of Rs. 15,00,000/- as compensation in lieu of the death of their young son. Thereafter notices were issued to the opposite parties. The opposite party No. 1- owner of the vehicle in question contested the claim petition by filing writ­ten statement before the Tribunal on the ground that the driver of the vehicle was having the valid and effective driving li­cence and the vehicle in question was insured with the Oriental Insurance Com­pany Ltd., therefore, the liability of com­pensation lies upon the insurer of the ve­hicle.
(3.) THE opposite party No. 2 - Orien­tal Insurance Company Ltd. also con­tested the claim petition by filing written statement before the Tribunal alleging therein that the vehicle was insured as goods carrying commercial vehicle but the same was used as a passenger vehicle on the date of accident. It has further alleged that the driver of the vehicle in question was not having the valid and effective driv­ing licence. Therefore, the claim petition was liable to be dismissed against the present applicant/insurer of the vehicle. The opposite parties No. 3 and 4 are the brother of the deceased and they have ad­mitted the allegations made in the claim petition and have no objection, if the amount of compensation is awarded in favour of the claimants.;