The Supreme Court has set aside the ruling of the National Consumer Commission and reiterated that an insurance company is not bound to pay motor vehicle insurance if the driver had no valid license. Allowing the appeal of Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd, the court stated that the commission had taken a wrong view on facts.
In another motor vehicle accident compensation case recently, National Insurance Company Ltd vs Annappa Irappa, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal of the insurance company alleging that the driver had no valid license. It ruled that a driver who had a valid license to drive a light motor vehicle was also authorized to drive a light goods vehicle according to the amendment to the Motor Vehicles Rules made in 1989.
Published in The Insurance Times, November 2010
