New Delhi, Mar 11 (UNI) The Supreme Court has held that a person found driving with a fake licence is not entitled for any compensation from the insurance company even if the licence has been renewed subsequently.
A bench comprising Justices Arijit Pasayat and S H Kapadia has directed all the high courts and consumer commissions to decide a batch of petitions afresh keeping in view the law laid down by the apex court in this judgement.
Allowing the appeal of National Insurance Co Ltd, the apex court has laid down, 1) Where orignally the licence was a fake one, renewal cannot cure the inherent fatality 2) In case of third party risks, the insurance has to indemnify the amount and if so advised to recover the same from the insured 3) The decision of this court in Swaran Singh's case (Supra) has no application to cases other then third party risks 4) The concept of purposive interpretation has no application to cases relatable to section 149 of the Motor Vehicles Act.
In all the petitions the common question of law was that all the high courts and the national consumer disputes redressal commissions have relied on the judgement passed in Swaran Singh's case.
The apex court in its judgement had made it clear that section 149 of the Act relates to duty of insurance company to satisfy the judgements and awards against persons insured in respect of the third party risks.
The apex court while laying down directions for the high courts and other courts in the country noted, '' More often then not, literal interpretation of a statute or a provision of a statute results in absurdity. Therefore, while interpreting statutory provisions the courts should keep in mind the objective or the purpose for which the statute has been enacted. Justice Frank Furter of the US Supreme Court in an article titled as 'some reflection', on the reading of statute (47 Columbia law reports 527), observed that 'legislation has an aim, it seeks to obviate some mischief, to supply inadequacy, to effect a change of policy, to formulate a plan of government. That aim, that policy is not drawn, like Nitrogen out of the air; it is evidence in the language of the statute as read in the light of other external manifestations of purpose.'' UNI AKS/SC DKA KN1806
A bench comprising Justices Arijit Pasayat and S H Kapadia has directed all the high courts and consumer commissions to decide a batch of petitions afresh keeping in view the law laid down by the apex court in this judgement.
Allowing the appeal of National Insurance Co Ltd, the apex court has laid down, 1) Where orignally the licence was a fake one, renewal cannot cure the inherent fatality 2) In case of third party risks, the insurance has to indemnify the amount and if so advised to recover the same from the insured 3) The decision of this court in Swaran Singh's case (Supra) has no application to cases other then third party risks 4) The concept of purposive interpretation has no application to cases relatable to section 149 of the Motor Vehicles Act.
In all the petitions the common question of law was that all the high courts and the national consumer disputes redressal commissions have relied on the judgement passed in Swaran Singh's case.
The apex court in its judgement had made it clear that section 149 of the Act relates to duty of insurance company to satisfy the judgements and awards against persons insured in respect of the third party risks.
The apex court while laying down directions for the high courts and other courts in the country noted, '' More often then not, literal interpretation of a statute or a provision of a statute results in absurdity. Therefore, while interpreting statutory provisions the courts should keep in mind the objective or the purpose for which the statute has been enacted. Justice Frank Furter of the US Supreme Court in an article titled as 'some reflection', on the reading of statute (47 Columbia law reports 527), observed that 'legislation has an aim, it seeks to obviate some mischief, to supply inadequacy, to effect a change of policy, to formulate a plan of government. That aim, that policy is not drawn, like Nitrogen out of the air; it is evidence in the language of the statute as read in the light of other external manifestations of purpose.'' UNI AKS/SC DKA KN1806
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