Insurers are not statutorily liable for goods-vehicle passengers unless they accompany goods as owner or agent.

Kaliyaperumal died after falling from a goods vehicle while it was carrying seedlings.

His wife and children claimed compensation, asserting that he was travelling as a load man.

The Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal found the driver negligent and awarded compensation, holding the insurer liable under the vehicle’s policy.

The insurer appealed, contending that the deceased was an unauthorised passenger and that the policy did not cover him.

The High Court considered the claim petition, the FIR, the oral evidence and the policy documents, including the absence of evidence that the deceased was employed by the vehicle owner.

1. Whether the deceased was proved to have been travelling in the goods vehicle as a load man, rather than as an unauthorised passenger.

2. Whether the insurer was statutorily or contractually liable to indemnify the claimants for the deceased’s death in the circumstances.

Section 147 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, does not require an insurer to cover a passenger travelling in a goods vehicle unless the passenger is the owner of the goods or the owner’s agent accompanying the goods.

Applying the Full Bench decision in Branch Manager, United India Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Nagammal, 2008 SCC OnLine Mad 973, the Court held that an unauthorised passenger in a goods vehicle is not entitled to statutory insurance coverage.

The Court also construed IMT 28 of the India Motor Tariff 2002 as extending cover to a driver, conductor or cleaner employed in connection with the vehicle’s operation—not generally to a load man.

The evidence did not establish that Kaliyaperumal was employed by the vehicle owner or was travelling as a load man; the claim petition described his employment as self-employment, and the asserted load-man status was supported only by oral evidence from the claimants.

The Court noted that the policy’s IMT 28 endorsement covered specified vehicle personnel, not a load man.

It also relied on the evidence that the deceased had travelled on top of the goods and concluded that, absent proof bringing him within a covered category, he had to be treated as an unauthorised passenger.

The valid policy therefore did not make the insurer liable for the claim.

It set aside the Tribunal’s award against the insurer, while leaving the claimants at liberty to pursue compensation from the vehicle owner in accordance with law.

No costs were awarded, and the connected miscellaneous petition was closed.