"No Compensation To The Owner If Vehicle Is Lost Due To Negligence"

In a judgment issued by the trial court, the owner of a vehicle cannot claim for any compensation if a vehicle is lost or damaged due to the owner’s negligence. Mr. Jamun Pandey filed a suit in a trial court against SBI General Insurance Company who refused his claim of Rs 6.2 lakhs when his truck went missing. The insurer strongly opposed the plea, saying that Mr. Pandey was guilty of negligence in safeguarding the vehicle against loss or damage.

As reported by The Economic Times, the court made the observation while denying the insurance claim to a truck owner whose truck was stolen after Mr. Pandey’s driver forgot the keys in the vehicle and left it unattended for some time in an unauthorized place.

In its judgment, Mrs. Kamini Lau, Additional District Judge, said, “The statement that one key had gone with the vehicle clearly establishes that Ram Nandan (the truck driver) had left it in the vehicle, while leaving the truck unattended for at least one hour fifteen minutes as per his own admission. But from the record of the FIR, the time appears to be much longer since the information of the theft was given to police in writing at 8.30am on October 25, 2013, in spite of the distance of the police station from the place of theft being merely a kilometer away." She further added, "The insured vehicle was stolen due to the negligence of the driver of the plaintiff. The plaintiff is guilty of breach of terms and conditions of the insurance policy. I, hereby, hold that the plaintiff is not entitled to any relief of recovery from the defendant as asked for in the plaint.”

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