Compulsory Risks In Insurance Automatically Transferred To Transferee Of Vehicle Even When Certificate Of Insurance Not Transferred: Jammu & Kashmir High Court

The Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court has recently ruled that whoever may be the actual owner of the motor vehicle at the time of the accident, compulsory risks covered under the policy of insurance get automatically transferred to the transferee of a vehicle even though certificate of insurance has not been transferred in his favour. Elaborating further on the matter Justice Dhar explained that it is only the certificate of insurance which has been issued in accordance with Chapter XI of the Motor Vehicles Act which gets automatically transferred in the name of transferee of the vehicle, meaning thereby that a certificate of insurance to the extent it covers compulsory risks as per requirement laid down in section 147 of the Motor Vehicles Act which falls in Chapter XI of the said Act, would get transferred. "Therefore, the certificate of insurance to the extent it covers compulsory risks as contemplated in section 147 of the Motor Vehicles Act would get automatically transferred to the transferee upon transfer of a vehicle by the original insurer",the bench pointed. Once the vehicle in question was transferred by Sutanter Singh to respondent-Sunita Kumari, the compulsory risks covered under the policy of insurance purchased by Sutanter Singh would get automatically transferred to respondent-Sunita Kumari from the date she became the owner of the vehicle,Justice Dhar underscored.