Executive Engineer,Aasthai Yantrik ... vs Ram Kali & 5 Others on 6 December, 2021
As noted earlier in cases filed under Section 166 of the Act, the claimants have to plead and establish the negligence of the driver in causing the accident. The role of a driver in any claim proceedings under the Act is to contest the allegations of negligence made against him as also the allegation that the accident was caused by use of the vehicle driven by him. As noted earlier, the allegation of the claimants and the findings of the Tribunal that the accident happened due to use of the vehicle owned by the appellant is not challenged in the present appeal. A driver is sufficiently represented in proceedings under Section 166 even if he appears as a witness to deny and contest the allegations of negligence made against him (Machindranath Kernath Kasar (Supra) and Uma Kant Tewari versus Jai Prakash Srivastava and others. (2019) 5 ADJ 640. If that is the situation under Section 166, then obviously in proceedings under Section 163-A, where the claimants are not required to plead or establish any wrongful act, doing or negligence on the part of either the owner or the driver of the vehicle, the driver of the offending vehicle is not a necessary party and proceedings shall not be vitiated because the driver was not impleaded in the claim petition if the owner of the vehicle had been impleaded as a party.