The Supreme Court ruled last week that an insurance policy of a motor vehicle did not cover employees of a person who hired the vehicle to carry goods. “Someone who travels, not being an authorised agent in place of the owner of goods, and claims to be an employee of the owner of goods, cannot be covered by the statutory policy,†the court stated in the judgment, Sanjeev Kumar vs National Insurance Company. The dispute arose when a person hired a vehicle to carry his goods and took along with him two employees. All of them died in a road accident. The Himachal Pradesh High Court, modifying the order of the accident claims tribunal, asked the insurance company to pay compensation and allowed it to recover from the owner of the vehicle. Therefore, the owner appealed to the Supreme Court. The appeal was dismissed. Read more
