INSURED VEHICLE’S BORROWER NOT ENTTLED TO COMPENSATION;
The claimant was riding a motorbike having registration number AS-01/L-8432 from Guwahati to Changsari on 17.12.2003. He lost control of the vehicle at Silemahekhaity and crashed to the side of the road. The claimant suffered serious injuries as a result of the collision and sent to the hospital. The vehicle properly covered with the National Insurance Company Limited.
During the trial; the National Insurance Company Limited submitted a written statement stating that; the claim petition is not maintainable under Section 163A of the Motor Vehicles Act because; the injured driver, who is the claimant, was driving the vehicle himself and the accident occurred because he lost control of the vehicle, and there was no negligence on the part of the vehicle’s owner.
As a result, a claimant; who is not a third party as defined by Section 147 of the M.V. Act of 1988 will be unable to maintain an application under Section 163A of the M.V. Act of 1988; because a person cannot be held legally liable for his own conduct and demand compensation from himself. Section 163A included by the Legislature into the M.V. Act of 1988 to provide remedy; to the person who is the victim of rash and negligent driving by the other person and not to the person who has caused the accident and suffered loss/injury as a result of his own act and is not a person under the purview of Section 163A.
After hearing both the parties; Tribunal delivered the judgement in the favor of claimant being aggrieved by the judgement the insurance company preferred an appeal in which; insurance company contented that the award was against the Motor Vehicle Act, and claimant cannot be termed as third party for the purpose of compensation.
The court held that; insurance policy’s advantages are limited to personal insurance coverage for the owner and personal accident coverage is a contract between the insured and the insurer that is solely intended to benefit the insured, not the borrower.
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