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TMI Blog2018 (2) TMI 2050X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... lved in the accident (a Maruti-800 bearing Registration DL-3CC-3684) was registered in the name of Vijay Kumar, the First Respondent. According to the First Respondent, he had sold the vehicle to the Second Respondent on 12 July 2007 prior to the accident and had handed over possession of the vehicle together with relevant documents including the registration certificate, and forms 29 and 30 for transfer of the vehicle. The Second Respondent stated before the Tribunal that he sold the vehicle to the Third Respondent on 18 September 2008. The Third Respondent in turn claimed before the Tribunal to have sold the vehicle to the Petitioner. The Petitioner, in the course of his written statement claimed that he had sold the vehicle to Meer Singh. The succession of transfers was put forth as a defence to the claim. 2. By its award dated 6 October 2012, the Tribunal granted compensation in the amount of Rs. 10,000/- to Smt. Jai Devi and of Rs. 3,75,000/- on account of the death of Nitin, to his parents. The Tribunal noted that the registration certificate of the offending vehicle continued to be in the name of the First Respondent. The Tribunal held the First Respondent jointly and sever ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... or the purposes of the Act. 5. On the other hand, learned Counsel appearing on behalf of the First Respondent supported the judgment of the Tribunal by submitting that the Appellant as the person in physical possession and control of the vehicle was liable. Learned Counsel appearing on behalf of the First Respondent also relied on the decisions of this Court in Purnya Kala Devi and Reshma. Learned Counsel submits: (i) The sale of a vehicle also results in a presumable change of physical possession and control of the vehicle from the vendor to the vehicle. The registered owner at the best can be regarded as an ostensible owner of the vehicle but not the real owner after the sale of the vehicle, even if his name is there on the Registration Certificate of the vehicle; (ii) The definition of owner in the Section 2(30) of the Act, is not a complete code and the exceptions contained therein are not exhaustive; (iii) The Court/Tribunal should apply the test whether the registered owner has, through legitimate means, fully relinquished his possession and control over the vehicle or not. If the answer is in the affirmative, he cannot be made liable and the person w ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ion which applies where the motor vehicle is the subject of a hire purchase agreement or of an agreement of lease or hypothecation. Otherwise the definition stipulates that for the purposes of the Act, the person in whose name the motor vehicle stands registered is treated as the owner. 7. Section 50 deals with the procedure for transfer of ownership, and provides as follows: 50. Transfer of ownership.--(1) Where the ownership of any motor vehicle registered under this Chapter is transferred,-- (a) the transferor shall,-- (i) in the case of a vehicle registered within the same State, within fourteen days of the transfer, report the fact of transfer, in such form with such documents and in such manner, as may be prescribed by the Central Government to the registering authority within whose jurisdiction the transfer is to be effected and shall simultaneously send a copy of the said report to the transferee; and (ii) in the case of a vehicle registered outside the State, within forty-five days of the transfer, forward to the registering authority referred to in Sub-clause (i)-- (A) the no objection certificate obtained Under Section 48; or (B) ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tion that may be taken against him Under Section 177 such amount not exceeding one hundred rupees as may be prescribed Under Sub-section (5): Provided that action Under Section 177 shall be taken against the transferor or the transferee or the other person, as the case may be, where he fails to pay the said amount. (4) Where a person has paid the amount Under Sub-section (3), no action shall be taken against him Under Section 177. (5) For the purposes of Sub-section (3), a State Government may prescribe different amounts having regard to the period of delay on the part of the transferor or the transferee in reporting the fact of transfer of ownership of the motor vehicle or of the other person in making the application Under Sub-section (2). 32 (6) On receipt of a report Under Sub-section (1), or an application Under Sub-section (2), the registering authority may cause the transfer of ownership to be entered in the certificate of registration. (7) A registering authority making any such entry shall communicate the transfer of ownership to the transferor and to the original registering authority, if it is not the original registering authority ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he 1988 Act" in view of the provisions of Section 2(30) and Section 50. Consequently, the view of this Court was that the person whose name continues in the record of the registering authority as the owner of the vehicle is equally liable together with the insurer. 9. The decision of a three judge Bench of this Court in Purnya Kala Devi (supra) involved a situation where the registered owner of a vehicle involved in an accident denied his liability to compensate the legal heirs of the deceased victim on the ground that the state government had requisitioned the vehicle. On the date of the accident, the vehicle stood requisitioned under the Assam Requisition and Control of Vehicles Act, 1968. The state failed to establish that the vehicle was released from requisition after service of a notice in writing to the owner, to take delivery, as required by Section 5(1) of the state Act. Under the Assam Act, it was only upon the service of a notice to that effect that no liability for compensation would lie with the requisitioning authority. The High Court absolved the state government on the basis of the definition of the expression 'owner' in Section 2(30) of the Motor Vehicles ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... cation or hire purchase who is construed as the owner and not the registered owner. The same analogy was drawn to hold that where the vehicle had been requisitioned, it was the state and not the registered owner who had possession and control and would hence be held liable to compensate. Purnya Kala Devi does not hold that a person who transfers the vehicle to another but continues to be the registered owner Under Section 2(30) in the records of the registering authority is absolved of liability. The situation which arose before the court in that case must be borne in mind because it was in the context of a compulsory act of requisitioning by the state that this Court held, by analogy of reasoning, that the registered owner was not liable. 11. The subsequent decision of a Bench of three judges of this Court in HDFC Bank Limited v. Reshma (supra) involved an agreement of hypothecation. The Tribunal held the financier of the vehicle to jointly and severally liable together with the owner on the ground that it was under an obligation to ensure that the borrower had not neglected to get the vehicle insured. The High Court had dismissed the appeal filed by the Bank against the order of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he Second Respondent to effect full payment for obtaining an insurance cover was neither known to the financier nor was there any collusion on its part. Consequently, the High Court was held to be in error in fastening liability on the financier. 12. The consistent thread of reasoning which emerges from the above decisions is that in view of the definition of the expression 'owner' in Section 2(30), it is the person in whose name the motor vehicle stands registered who, for the purposes of the Act, would be treated as the 'owner'. However, where a person is a minor, the guardian of the minor would be treated as the owner. Where a motor vehicle is subject to an agreement of hire purchase, lease or hypothecation, the person in possession of the vehicle under that agreement is treated as the owner. In a situation such as the present where the registered owner has purported to transfer the vehicle but continues to be reflected in the records of the registering authority as the owner of the vehicle, he would not stand absolved of liability. Parliament has consciously introduced the definition of the expression 'owner' in Section 2(30), making a departure from th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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