The Bombay High Court directed ICICI Lombard to pay compensation to the family of a man who died in a road accident caused by the offending vehicle which was insured by ICICI Lombard. Even though the driver of the offending vehicle did not have valid driving license, the court ruled that this did not necessarily mean he was an unskilled driver. The court emphasized that drivers who have not renewed their license but are otherwise skilled and experienced should not be automatically held responsible for accidents.
Justice Shivkumar Dige who presided over the case quoted “In my view, admittedly, deceased died due to dash of the driver of the offending truck. At the time of the accident the offending truck was insured with the Insurance Company. There was contractual liability of the Insurance Company to indemnify the compensation. Driving licenses of the driver of the offending vehicle was not renewed at the time of the accident. It doesn’t mean that he was not skilled driver. Moreover, it is settled principle of law that if driver of offending vehicle was not holding effective and valid driving licenses at the time of the accident, Insurance Company has to pay compensation first and recover it from the owner of the offending vehicle”.
Writers Note:
This decision comes in wake of a series of decisions from the high courts in relation to validity of a motor claim against expired driving license. Just few months earlier, court had allowed for validity of non transport license for driving commercial vehicle's which weighed less 7500 kg. Furthermore the 2019 amended Motor Vehicle Act allowed an individual to apply for renewal of driving license any time between one year before its expiry. With these decisions in place, insurer's need to review their guidelines of repudiating a claim on the basis of driving license validity.
Further insurer's need to work closely with insured fleet operators to teach good driving habits and may be mandate close monitoring of the driving behaviour through telematic devices.
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