Insurance companies are not liable to pay compensation to gratuitous passengers: Gauhati High Court

 STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: In sync with a judgment of the Supreme Court of India, a bench of the Gauhati High Court pronounced that insurance companies are not liable for the payment of any compensation for the death of any ‘gratuitous passengers’ travelling in goods vehicles.

The bench of Justice Parthivjyoti Saikia ruled this in an appeal filed by an insurance company against the judgment passed by the member of Motor Accident Claims Tribunal No. 2, Kamrup. The Tribunal held that the deceased was a ‘gratuitous passenger’ in a pick-up truck, and the insurance policy concerned did not cover such passengers. In spite of that, the Tribunal directed the insurance company to pay the compensation with the liberty to recover the same from the owner of the vehicle.

The bench of the Gauhati Court allowed the appeal and modified the impugned judgment accordingly. The bench ruled that ‘the insurance company is not liable to pay compensation to the claimant. The claimant is at liberty to recover the compensation granted in their favour by the Tribunal from the owner of the vehicle.”

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