Ending a longstanding dispute over the liability of insurance companies, a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court has held that insurance companies are liable to pay compensation to pillion riders under the standard package vehicle insurance policy in accident claim cases.
The Bench comprising Justice P.R. Ramachandra Menon and Justice K. Harilal ordered recently that there could not be any doubt that if it was a standard package policy (earlier comprehensive policy), coverage should be provided by the insurance company in respect of the pillion rider as well.
The court made the ruling while allowing a writ petition filed by Francis K.T. of Aluva, a pillion rider, against an order of a motor accident claims tribunal, Perumbavoor, exonerating the insurance company from the liability of paying compensation to him. The National Insurance Company’s stand was that there was no liability for the company to satisfy the claim as no additional premium was collected with respect to the pillion rider. He was injured in an accident in 2002, while he was pillion riding on a motorcycle.
The court noted that a 2009 circular of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) had ordered that insurer’s liability under the standard motor package policy (comprehensive policy) for private car and two-wheeler very much included coverage to a pillion rider on two-wheelers and occupants in a private car as well, as long as they were carried in the vehicle not for hire or reward.
In the case of a standard package/comprehensive policy in respect of a private car/a two-wheeler, the IRDA had instructed that it covered the risk of occupants in the private car or pillion rider of the two-wheeler as well.
