National Insurance Co. Ltd. vs Anjana Shyam And Ors. on 28 December, 1999
In other claim petitions, the appellant insurance company has not filed similar applications and thereby no opportunity was given to the respondents to controvert the claims of the appellant insurance company before the Tribunals below. Under Section 149(2)(a)(i)(c) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, the defence which the appellant insurance company can raise is in respect of the breach of specified or enumerated conditions of the insurance policy one of which being, viz., if the vehicle allowed by permit has been used for a purpose other than the specified purpose. As noticed above, the purpose of permit of the ill-fated bus was to carry the passengers and, therefore, there is no violation of the statutory provisions by the insured and as such the defence that more than 42 + 2 passengers specified under the policy of insurance were carried at the time of the accident in the ill-fated bus is not available under Section 149(2)(a)(i)(c) of the Motor Vehicles Act to the appellant insurance company against third party risk as the vehicle was not used for the purpose not authorised by the permit. For taking this view, we are supported by a Division Bench judgment of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in Radhey Shyam Agarwal v. Gayatri Devi 1998 ACJ 1177 (MP) and the judgment of the Apex Court in B. v. Nagaraju v. Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd. 1996 ACJ 1178 (SC).