1 2025:CGHC:44456 NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR MAC No. 228 of 2022 1 - Oshkar Tirkey, S/o. Poulush Tirkey, Aged About 55 Years, R/o. Village- Kanmora, Tahsil- Jashpur, District- Jashpur, Chhattisgarh. 2 - Smt. Jyoti Tirkey, W/o. Oshkar Tirkey, Aged About 45 Years, R/o. Village- Kanmora, Tahsil- Jashpur, District- Jashpur, Chhattisgarh. 3 - Minor Naincy Tirkey, D/o. Mikesh Tirkey, Aged About 6 Years, Minor Through Her Natural Guardian Appellant No. 1, R/o. Village- Kanmora, Tahsil- Jashpur, District- Jashpur, Chhattisgarh. 4 - Minor Nayasa Tirkey, D/o. Mikesh Tirkey, Aged About 3 Years, Minor Through Her Natural Guardian Appellant No. 1, R/o. Village- Kanmora, Tahsil- Jashpur, District- Jashpur, Chhattisgarh. 5 - Minor Natasha Tirkey, D/o. Mikesh Tirkey, Minor Through Her Natural Guardian Appellant No. 1, R/o. Village- Kanmora, Tahsil- Jashpur, District- Jashpur, Chhattisgarh. ... Appellants versus 1 - Mr. Priyabrata Kundu, D/o. Gobinda Kundu, R/o. 42 Subhash Pally Baranagar ISI Baranagar, District- North 24 Parganas, WB-700108. ASHOK SAHU Digitally signed by ASHOK SAHU Date: 2025.09.02 14:22:42 +0530 2 2 - Mikesh Tirkey, S/o. Oshkar Tirkey, Aged About 30 Years, R/o. Village- Kanmora-Sitonga, Tahsil- Jashpur, District- Jashpur, Chhattisgarh. 3 - Reliance General Insurance Company Limited, Local Branch Office, 5th Floor, Shop No. 5-6, National Corporate Park, G.E. Road, Raipur, District Raipur, (C.G. ). ... Respondents For Appellants : Mr. Rishi Kant Mahobia, Advocate For Respondent No.3. : Mr. Sourabh Gupta, Advocate (Single Bench) Hon'ble Shri Justice Sanjay K. Agrawal Judgment on Board 01.09.2025 1. This appeal under Section 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 has been preferred by the appellants/claimants only seeking a direction that the principle of first pay and recover from the owner & driver be applied as laid down by the Supreme Court in the matter of National Insurance Co. Ltd vs Swaran Singh & Ors1. 2. Learned counsel for the appellants would submit that the driver of the offending vehicle did not have a valid and effective 1 (2004) 3 SCC 297 3 driving licence to drive the vehicle as has been held by the learned Claims Tribunal in the impugned award and therefore, the insurance company has been exonerated from its liability. He would further submit that the direction to first pay and recover from the driver & owner be issued to the insurance company so that the claimants received the amount of compensation instantly. 3. Mr. Sourabh Gupta, learned counsel for the insurance company/respondent No.3 would support the impugned award and submit that the appeal of the appellants is liable to be dismissed. 4. I have heard learned counsel for the parties, considered their rival submissions made herein-above and gone through the records minutely. 5. Since the learned Claims Tribunal has clearly recorded a finding in para 19 of the impugned award that the driver did not have a valid and effective driving licence to drive the offending vehicle, therefore, the principle laid down in Swaran Singh (supra) ought to have been applied by the learned Claims Tribunal while adjudicating the claim application. In that view of the matter, the insurance company/respondent No.3 is liable to first pay the 4 amount of compensation to the claimants and thereafter recover the same from the owner & driver of the offending vehicle. 6. Accordingly, this appeal is partly allowed and the impugned award is modified to the extent as indicated herein-above. Sd/- (Sanjay K. Agrawal) Judge Ashok