Published on: 22 September 2023 at 19:30 IST
Court: Supreme Court of India
Citation: United India Insurance Co. Ltd. V. Shila Datta (2011)
Honourable Supreme Court of India has held that the owner of the vehicle always remains an aggrieved person before the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal. It is further submitted that Independent Appeal by the Owner or Joint Appeal along with the Insurer of the vehicle against the order of the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal is maintainable before the law.
It is held that as long as the owner is an appellant and he is a “person aggrieved” in law, the question whether he is independently filing the appeal, or whether he is filing it at the instance of the insurer becomes irrelevant.
25. On a careful consideration, we are of the view that the decision in Chinnama George to the extent it holds that a joint appeal is not maintainable, does not lay down the correct law. As observed in Narendra Kumar, the owner of the vehicle does not cease to be an aggrieved person, merely because the insurer is ultimately liable under the terms of the policy or under Section 149 of the Act. If the owner by himself, can file an appeal as an aggrieved person and such appeal is maintainable, we fail to understand how the presence of the insurer as a co-appellant would make the appeal not maintainable. Whether the owner joins the insurer or the insurer joins the owner, makes no difference to the fact that the owner continues to be a person aggrieved.
Drafted By Abhijit Mishra
