SC: Public Premises Act Prevails over State Rent Laws For Evicting Unauthorised Occupants  ||  SC: Doctors Were Unwavering Heroes in COVID-19, and Their Sacrifice Remains Indelible  ||  SC Sets Up Secondary Medical Board to Assess Passive Euthanasia Plea of Man in Vegetative State  ||  NCLAT: Amounts Listed As ‘Other Advances’ in Company’s Balance Sheet aren’t Financial Debt under IBC  ||  NCLT Ahmedabad: Objections to Coc Cannot Bar RP From Challenging Preferential Transactions  ||  J&K&L HC: Courts Should Exercise Caution When Granting Interim Relief in Public Infrastructure Cases  ||  Bombay HC: SARFAESI Sale Invalid if Sale Certificate is Not Issued Prior to IBC Moratorium  ||  Supreme Court: Police May Freeze Bank Accounts under S.102 CrPC in Prevention of Corruption Cases  ||  SC: Arbitrator’s Mandate Ends on Time Expiry; Substituted Arbitrator Must Continue After Extension  ||  SC: Woman May Move Her Department’s ICC For Harassment by Employee of Another Workplace    

United India Insurance Co. Ltd. vs. Farida Sarosh Poonawala and Ors. - (High Court of Delhi) (24 Jan 2022)

Every legal representative who suffers on account of death of a person due to a motor vehicle accident should have a remedy for realisation of compensation

MANU/DE/0244/2022

Motor Vehicles

Appellant impugns award whereby the detailed accident report has been disposed of and compensation awarded. Learned counsel for the Appellant contends that, the Tribunal has erred in awarding compensation to Respondent no. 2 and 3 who were children of the wife of the deceased from her first marriage. He submits that, they cannot be treated as dependant family members of the deceased.

The Supreme Court in Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation Vs. Ramanbhai Prabhatbhai & Another, has held that having regard to the condition of the Indian society, every legal representative who suffers on account of the death of a person due to a motor vehicle accident should have a remedy for realisation of compensation.

Further, Supreme Court has held that, in Indian family brothers, sisters and brothers' children and sometimes foster children live together and they are dependent upon the bread-winner of the family and if the bread-winner is killed on account of a motor vehicle accident, there is no justification to deny them compensation.

A similar view has been taken by the Supreme Court in N. Jayasree & Ors. Vs. Cholamandalam MS General Insurance Company Ltd., wherein the Supreme Court has held that the term 'legal representative' should be given a wider interpretation for the purpose of Chapter XII of MV Act and it should not be confined only to mean the spouse, parents and children of the deceased. The Supreme Court held that the Motor Vehicle Act is a benevolent legislation enacted for the object of providing monetary relief to the victims or their families. Therefore, the Motor Vehicle Act calls for a liberal and wider interpretation to serve the real purpose underlying the enactment and fulfil its legislative intent.

There is no infirmity in the impugned award and the computation of compensation by the tribunal. Appeal dismissed.

Tags : COMPENSATION   AWARD   LEGALITY  

Share :        

Disclaimer | Copyright 2025 - All Rights Reserved