Chhattisgarh High Court: The petition filed by the National Insurance Co. seeking to evade its liability to indemnify the petitioner, was dismissed by a Single Judge Bench comprising of Sanjay Agrawal, J.
Undisputed facts of the case were that the claimant’s motorcycle was dashed vehemently by the jeep of the respondents which was being driven in a rash and negligent manner. The claimant claimed compensation under Section 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act 1988 subsequent to which the Claims Tribunal fastened liability upon the petitioner Insurance Co. Being aggrieved, the Insurance Company filed the instant petition.
The High Court noted that the main contention raised by the Insurance Company was that at the concerned time, the premium was not paid to the Company and the Development Officer who collected the premium amount was not authorized for the same. However, such contention was rejected by the Court. It was held that on a bare perusal of the record, it was evident that at the relevant time, the premium had already been collected by the petitioner by issuing a ‘Deposit Challan’ in its printed form. Therefore the Insurance Company could not run away from its liability to pay the assured. In accordance, the petition was dismissed. [National Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Jitendra Kumar Jain, 2018 SCC OnLine Chh 487, dated 24-4-2018]
