An insurer cannot obtain recovery rights based on an unproved route-permit violation.

Sarbeswar Rath died in a motor-vehicle accident on 23 November 2021 involving a mini-truck insured by the appellant.

The Motor Accident Claims Tribunal awarded his dependants ₹37,21,538 with 6% annual interest from the claim-filing date.

The insurer appealed, challenging both the quantum and the Tribunal’s refusal to grant it recovery rights against the vehicle’s owner on the ground that the vehicle lacked a valid route permit.

The High Court identified the insurer’s entitlement to recovery and the appropriate compensation as the questions for determination.

Whether the insurer established a policy-condition breach—specifically, the absence of a valid route permit—entitling it to recover the compensation from the vehicle’s owner

Whether the compensation awarded by the Tribunal should be reduced

Section 173(1) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 provides for an appeal to the High Court against an award of a Claims Tribunal.

A party’s factual plea must be pleaded and established by evidence before the Court may act upon it; an unexhibited document or an unsupported assertion does not prove the alleged breach.

The Court also referred to Taslim Parvin & Another v. (Smt.) Usha Devi & Another, 2018(2) TAC 22 (SC), in considering the agreed reduction in compensation.

The insurer relied on an additional written statement and information said to have been obtained under the RTI Act to assert that the truck lacked a route permit. However, the RTI information was neither exhibited nor supported by oral evidence, and the seizure lists’ failure to mention a permit did not itself prove its absence.

The insurer therefore failed to establish a policy breach, and the Court upheld the Tribunal’s rejection of recovery rights.

On quantum, the claimants’ counsel accepted a proposed reduction, while the insurer’s counsel left the matter to the Court; applying the cited precedent, the Court considered a reduced award appropriate.

It modified the award from ₹37,21,538 to ₹32,00,000, with 6% annual interest from 14 March 2022 until realization, and directed the insurer to pay within eight weeks.

The appeal was disposed of accordingly; upon proof of payment, the statutory deposit and accrued interest were to be refunded to the insurer.