Insurer is not liable when claimants fail to prove deceased goods-vehicle occupants were coolies.

The appeals arose from two compensation claims for the deaths of Ranjitha and Deivanai in a 22 March 2017 collision involving a TATA 407 goods vehicle.

The claimants alleged that the deceased were travelling as coolies in the vehicle; the insurer contended they were gratuitous passengers.

The Tribunal found that their status as coolies had not been proved, treated them as unauthorised passengers, and held the vehicle’s owner-driver liable while exonerating the insurer.

The claimants appealed only against the finding on liability, not the quantum of compensation.

1. Whether the deceased were travelling in the goods vehicle as coolies or as gratuitous passengers.

2. Whether the insurer could be held liable to pay compensation, or was properly exonerated on the ground that the deceased were unauthorised passengers.

The appeals were brought under Section 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, which provides for an appeal from an award of a Claims Tribunal.

The Court’s substantive determination turned on whether the claimants had established that the deceased were travelling as coolies rather than unauthorised passengers, and on the policy conditions applicable to the goods vehicle.

The judgment cites no precedent or further statutory provision as the basis for that determination.

The Court accepted that the accident and the driver’s negligence were not in dispute.

It upheld the Tribunal’s finding that the claimants had produced no documentary evidence or independent witness to establish that the deceased were coolies or worked for the vehicle’s owner.

The evidence concerning the number of occupants and the vehicle’s fitness certificate and permit, together with the policy terms, supported the Tribunal’s conclusion that the deceased were unauthorised passengers and that the insurer was not liable.

It confirmed the Tribunal’s common order and directed the first respondent, the owner-driver, to comply with it within four weeks; there was no order as to costs.