Case Law Details
Surendra Kumar Bhilawe vs. New India Assurance Company Limited (Supreme Court)
The Supreme Court in the case of Surendra Kumar Bhilawe vs. The New India Assurance Company Limited in Civil Appeal no 2632 of 2020 decided recently on 18 June 2020 has held that the person in whose name the motor vehicle stands registered would be treated as the ‘owner’ of the vehicle, for the purposes of the Motor Vehicles Act.
The dispute arose when the insurance claim made by one Surendra Kumar Bhilawe was turned down by the Insurance company on the ground that he had already sold the said truck to the one Ansari about three years ago. The facts are that Bhilawe’s claim was allowed by the District Forum and the appeal filed by the Insurance Company was also dismissed by the State Commission. However, the National Consumer Commission set aside both these orders on the short ground that when since Bhilawe had executed the sale letter he does not fall within the definition of ‘owner’ and hence was not liable to claim for accidental loss and therefore the Commission rejected his claim.
In Appeal, the Apex Court held that the National Commission had overlooked the definition of ‘owner’ in Section 2(30) of the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988. In Section 2(30) ‘owner’ has been defined to mean “a person in whose name a motor vehicle stands registered and, where such person is a minor, the guardian of such minor, and in relation to a motor vehicle which is the subject of a hire purchase agreement, or an agreement of lease or an agreement of hypothecation, the person in possession of the vehicle under that agreement.
The Apex Court in a detailed judgement observed that under the old Act ‘owner’ meant the person in possession of a motor vehicle. The definition of owner has undergone a change with the enactment of the new Act and the Legislature has consciously changed the definition of ‘owner’ to mean the person in whose name the motor vehicle stands registered.
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