Oriental Fire and General Insurance Company Limited Vs. Lachman Das and ors. - Court Judgment

Excerpt:
motor vehicles act, 1939 - section 110--motor accident--owner of goods travelling with goods in goods truck--held, he is liable to be compensated.;the owner of the goods, travelling with the goods in a goods truck, is liable to be compensated in case of accident.;(b) motor vehicles act, 1939 - section 96--motor accident--liability of insurance company not to be more than rs. 10,0001--held, award of damages cannot be interfered.;the liability of the insurance company, cannot be more than 10,000/- rupees.... consequently the award of damages by the tribunal, cannot be interfered with.;appeal dismissed with costs - guman mal lodha, j.1. this civil misc. appeal no. 106 of 1981 relates to challenge the award of compensation in an accident by a motor vehicle truck no. rol 4919 on 8-7-1978 where in than singh died.2. than singh was coming from ajmer to makrana when on account of rash and negligent driving of the driver, sualal, the truck over-turned near parbatsar. than singh was only 30 years of age at that time and was doing the business of selling fruits and vegetables by which he used to earn about rs. 300/- per month.3. badrinarain somani was the ownor of the truck at the time of the accident and it was insured with the oriental fire & general insurance company ltd.4. the tribunal has awarded compensation of rs. 48,000/- with interest at 5% against sualal, driver, oriental fire and general insurance company and badrinarain owner of the truck.5. the oriental fire and general insurance company prayed that the award and decree passed against the insurance company may be set saide.6. learned counsel for the appellant has argued that the insurance company is not liable because the truck involved in the accident was not meant to carry the passengers. it was also argued that in any case the liability of the insurance company cannot be more than rs. 10,000/-. learned counsel for the respondents has vehemently opposed the appeal.7. from the evidence it is proved that than singh, deceased, was taking his vegetables in the truck and as the owner of the goods was travelling in the truck. according to the judgment of the full bench in smt. santra bai v. prahlad 1985 rlw 354, in the case of death of such a person by accident, who is travelling as the owner of the goods in the goods truck the insurance company would be liable to pay compensation. in the above judgment of smt. santra bai 1985 rlw 354 the full bench of this court has discussed in details the divergence of the view of the various high court and ultimately affirmed the view that the owner of the goods travelling with the goods in a goods truck, is liable to be compensated in case of accident. i have got, therefore, no hesitation in holding that the finding of the tribunal is correct and calls for no interference in this respect.8. now, coming to the second part of arguments that tbe liability of the insurance company, cannot be more than rs. 10,000/-, it may be mentioned that in national insurance co. ltd. v. santi eliza david and ors. 1984 acj 8, it has been held that the insurance company is able to pay the damages under the common law of forte. consequently the award of damages by the tribunal, cannot be interfered with.9. the rseult of the above discussion is that the appeal fails and is dismissed with costs.