Insurer bears no liability for unauthorized gratuitous passengers travelling on tractors.

On 29 April 2000, Narender Kumar died in an accident involving tractor No. HP-32-0672 at Village Sanyah.

The claimants—his widow and two children—alleged that the tractor was driven rashly and negligently by respondent No. 2 and that it struck and crushed the deceased, who was walking on the roadside.

The owner and driver denied negligence and pleaded that the deceased himself was responsible for the accident.

The insurer alleged, inter alia, that the deceased was travelling as a gratuitous passenger on the tractor and that the policy did not cover such risk.

The Motor Accident Claims Tribunal awarded Rs.4,58,200 with interest at 7.5% per annum against the owner and driver jointly and severally, holding that the vehicle was being operated in breach of the Motor Vehicles Act and the insurance policy.

The owner and driver appealed under Section 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act, seeking dismissal of the claim petition.

Whether the accident occurred due to the rash and negligent driving of tractor No. HP-32-0672, resulting in the death of Narender Kumar?

Whether the deceased was travelling on the tractor along with the driver, rather than walking on the roadside?

Whether the deceased’s presence as a passenger on the tractor constituted a breach of the insurance policy, thereby absolving the insurer from liability?

Whether the Tribunal’s award of Rs.4,58,200 against the owner and driver required interference in appeal?

The Court applied Sections 166 and 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, governing claims for compensation arising from motor accidents and appeals against awards of the Claims Tribunal.

Under Sections 2(44) and 2(46), a tractor is a motor vehicle not constructed to carry load, while a trailer is a vehicle drawn by a motor vehicle; a tractor’s seating capacity is ordinarily limited to the driver unless coverage is specifically provided.

A person travelling on a tractor, other than the driver, is generally an unauthorised or gratuitous passenger where the policy does not cover such risk.

Relying on National Insurance Co. Ltd. v. V. Chinnamma, (2004) 8 SCC 697, the Court held that persons travelling in a tractor or tractor-trailer do not automatically fall within the category of persons carried with goods and that a tractor is not, by itself, a goods carriage.

Consequently, where no premium has been paid to cover a passenger’s risk and the passenger travels in breach of the policy conditions, the insurer is not liable; the owner and driver remain responsible for the compensation.

The Court upheld the finding of negligence because the FIR specifically alleged rash and negligent driving by the tractor driver, and the owner admitted that a criminal case arising from the accident had been registered against him.

On the question of the deceased’s position at the time of the accident, the insurer’s investigator testified that two persons were travelling on the tractor and that one of them, Narender Kumar, fell and died.

The FIR also recorded that two persons were sitting in the tractor and that a person was subsequently found beneath its rear tyre.

The Court therefore rejected the appellants’ contention that the deceased was merely a pedestrian.

Applying the principle in Chinnamma, and noting that the tractor’s policy contained no premium or coverage for passengers, the Court held that the deceased was a gratuitous passenger and that his carriage breached the policy conditions.

The insurer was consequently not liable, while the owner and driver remained jointly and severally liable under the award.

The insurer was therefore not liable to indemnify the owner, but the owner and driver were jointly and severally liable to pay the compensation awarded by the Tribunal.

The appeal was dismissed, and the award dated 27 August 2012 granting Rs.4,58,200 with interest at 7.5% per annum was affirmed.

Pending applications, if any, were also disposed of.