(A) Motor Vehicles Act, 1988–Section 39–Unregistered Vehicle–Insurer’s Liability & Fundamental Breach– Appeal by insurer–Rash and Negligent Driving–Maintainability of Appeal–
Road accident caused by a rashly and negligently driven vehicle holding the driver-owner and the insurer jointly and severally liable–Whether plying of the vehicle without any registration certificate would amount to fundamental breach–Held–Yes–That, the temporary registration was granted to vehicle in question on 30.08.2012, which had expired on 29.09.2012 and the accident took place on 30.01.2013 when the offending vehicle was being plied on the public road without any registration certificate–Appeal allowed. (Para 18)
(B) Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 Section–166–Deduction for personal expenses–The Ld. Tribunal below had wrongly deducted 1/3rd out of the total yearly income towards the personal expenses of deceased–At the time of the accident, there were four dependents of the deceased–Held–That, the subsequent death of father of the deceased during the pendency of the claim petition before the Ld. Tribunal below cannot be a reason for reduction of the compensation towards personal expenses–Award modified. (Para 21)
Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 –Section–166–Pay and Recover Principle –Third-party claims–Held–That, the insurance company is statutorily bound to satisfy the award at the first instance, even if it has a valid defense against the insured–Insurance Company was directed to pay the compensation of ₹23,88,140/- to the claimants and recover the same from the owner-cum-driver of the vehicle. (Paras 31 & 32)