A Supreme Court bench headed by Justices N.V. Ramana and S. Abdul Nazeer has reaffirmed that when a vehicle’s owner-driver dies due to their own “rash and negligent driving,” the insurer is not liable to pay third-party compensation under the Motor Vehicles Act. This is because the deceased cannot be treated as a “third party” in such cases. However, the Court clarified that the insurer must still cover the personal accident benefit under the policy, typically limited to ₹2 lakh with applicable interest .

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