1 2026:CGHC:13990 NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR MAC No. 318 of 2019 1 - Sbi General Insurance Company Limited Raipur, Head Post Office Raipur Pin No. 492001 District Raipur Through Its Senior Executive Litigation And T.P. (West) S.B.I. General Insurance Company Limited, 2nd Floor, Above Sbi Mani Branch, New Market, T.T. Nagar, Bhopal Madhya Pradesh. 462003 (Insurer), District : Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh ... Appellant(s) versus 1 - Keshav Kumar Shukla S/o Shri Devi Shankar Shukla Aged About 24 Years R/o Rest House Mahamaya Colony Ratanpur District Bilaspur Chhattisgarh. (Claimant), District : Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh 2 - Radheshayam S/o Shri Hiralal Mishra Aged About 48 Years R/o Near Ramdarbar Temple In The House Of Dinesh Kota, Raipur, District Raipur Chhattisgarh. (Driver), District : Raipur, Chhattisgarh 3 - Mohd. Manjir S/o Mohd. Ayub Aged About 45 Years R/o Hirapur, Tatibandh Raipur, Tehsil Raipur, P.S. Amanaka Raipur District Raipur Chhattisgarh. (Owner), District : Raipur, Chhattisgarh ... Respondent(s) HARNEET KAUR Digitally signed by HARNEET KAUR Date: 2026.03.24 16:44:13 +0530 2 For Appellant(s) : Mr. Ghanshyam Patel, Advocate SB - Hon'ble Shri Justice Sanjay K. Agrawal Order on Board 24.03.2026 1. The appellant/Insurance Company has preferred this appeal under Section 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 calling in question the legality, validity and correctness of impugned award dated 04/09/2018 passed by the learned 7th Additional Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Bilaspur in Claim Case No. 527/2015 whereby the Claims Tribunal has awarded a compensation of Rs. 54,200/- in favour of the claimants and the appellant/Insurance Company has been directed to firstly pay the compensation to the claimants and thereafter, recover it from the owner of the vehicle. 2. Learned counsel for the appellant would submit that the order of pay and recover made by the Claims Tribunal is perverse and contrary to law, as such, the impugned award is liable to be set aside. 3. I have heard learned counsel for the parties, considered their rival submissions made herein-above and went through the record with utmost circumspection. 3 4. A careful perusal of the record would show that the driver of the offending vehicle did not have a valid and effective driving license on the date of the accident and therefore, in light of the decision rendered by the Supreme Court in the matter of National Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Swaran Singh and Others1, the Claims Tribunal has rightly applied the principle of ‘pay and recover’ and directed the appellant/Insurance Company to firstly pay the compensation to the claimants and thereafter, recover it from the owner of the vehicle, which is absolutely in accordance with law. I do not find any merit in this appeal. 5. Accordingly, this appeal stands dismissed leaving the parties to bear their own cost(s). Sd/- (Sanjay K. Agrawal) Judge Harneet 1 (2004) 3 SCC 297