Owner Injured In Own Alto Cannot Claim Under Comprehensive Policy Without Personal Accident Cover, Gauhati HC Sets Aside ₹1.1 Lakh Award

The claimant owned a Maruti Alto insured under a comprehensive policy and was injured while travelling in it when it met with an accident on 5 May 2013.

The Motor Accident Claims Tribunal found that the claimant’s paid driver had driven rashly and negligently, and awarded ₹1,10,000 with interest at 6% per annum.

The insurer appealed, arguing that the owner was not a third party and that the policy did not cover his bodily injuries

Section 147 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 requires insurance against specified third-party liabilities but does not, by itself, require an insurer to cover the vehicle owner’s own death or bodily injury.

An insurer’s liability is to indemnify the insured against liability to a third party or for damage to third-party property; where the insured has no such liability, the insurer has none on that basis.

Coverage for the owner’s own injury requires personal accident insurance or other applicable policy cover.

The Court relied on Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Sunita Rathi, (1998) 1 SCC 365; Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Jhuma Saha (Smt.), (2007) 9 SCC 263; Dhanraj v. New India Assurance Co. Ltd.; Prabha Devi; and National Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Nirada Devi, 2021 SCC OnLine Gau 2686.

The claimant was the owner of the insured vehicle, not a third party seeking compensation for a liability owed to them by the insured.

Although the policy was described as comprehensive, the Court applied the cited authorities to conclude that Section 147 did not make the insurer liable for the owner’s own bodily injury.

The award could not stand without a basis for personal accident cover; the Tribunal had therefore erred in law in entertaining the claim against the insurer.

The insurer was permitted to seek refund of its ₹25,000 statutory deposit by applying to the Registry, and the Tribunal Court Record was ordered returned.