By Khushi Agarwal

With the advancement of technology, people’s standard of living is also rising. More and more people nowadays prefer to use their own personal vehicles for their day-to-day work. India is world’s second largest country in terms of population. One cannot even imagine the number of vehicles that are always present on the roads, with so many people living here and most of them using their own vehicles whether for going to their jobs or for any work.

Total number of vehicles on road in India in 2019 was 295.8 million[1]. With so many vehicles running on road, it will not be wrong to imagine the huge number of accidents which must have been taking place in India every day. India ranks first in the number of road accident deaths among 199 countries.

In 2019, total 4,49,002 number of accidents took place, and 1,51,113 deaths took place just because of road accidents[2]. There was a very big need for a law in respect of motor vehicles so that the victims of these of these accidents could get justice, which was fulfilled by the motor vehicles act, 1988. Latest amendment to this act was made in 2019.

History of Motor Vehicles Act

Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 came into force in 1989. Prior to this legislation, there were many different laws like Motor Vehicles Act, 1939 and Fatal Accidents Act, 1885. Motor vehicles act, 1988 came into force to amend and consolidate the earlier laws and to provide a one single law.

This act gave effect to many suggestions which were suggested by the supreme court in M.K. Kunhi Mohammad v. P.A. Ahmedkutty[3]. It has all the provisions ranging from who is driver, what will be the age of obtaining the license to what is motor vehicle. This act also talks about hit and run cases where the identity of the offender is not known. It provides sufficient remedy to the victims of the motor accidents.

Where should one go to seek remedy?

Now the question arises where will the victim who has suffered any loss due to motor accident will go to claim compensation? Should they go to high courts, civil courts or session courts?

Motor vehicles act, 1988 has made a special provision to establish different courts known as motor accident claims tribunal where the victims of motor accident can go to claim compensation.

Anirudh Prasad Ambasta v. State of Bihar[4] held that claims tribunal is a court. All the provisions related to claims tribunal has been made under chapter 12 of this act from Sections 165 to 176.

Role of state government

Now, who will establish these tribunals, how many members will it constitute of, what will be the qualifications of those members, all these is talked of in Section 165.

According to this section, the power to establish these tribunals in with the state government who by the notification in the official gazette can constitute one or more tribunals in any area as they may think right. Only those claims for compensation can be brought to these tribunals which involve accidents that caused any bodily injury or death of the victim or resulted in any property damage of the third party.

Also, number of members it will comprise of is also in the hands of state government. If the state government thinks that a particular tribunal should have five members and other one should have three, then it can do so as the act gives this power to them. In case number of members appointed are two or more than two, then one of them should always be appointed as chairman.

Appointment of members

This section also talks about the qualification of the members who can be appointed as members of these tribunals. The person who:

  • have earlier been or is presently a Judge of the High Court
  • have been earlier or is presently a Judge of the District Court
  • holds the qualification of being appointed as the Judge of the High Court or District Court,

can only be appointed as a member of the claim’s tribunal. To be a member of the tribunal, person should have at least one of the above-mentioned qualifications, only then he can be appointed as a member.

State government can also distribute the business among different tribunals in case there are more than one tribunal in a particular area.

Who can file an application?

Anybody cannot make file application for compensation in the tribunal. Section 166 specifically mentions who can make a application for compensation.

According to it, application can only be made either:

  • by the person who has suffered the injury from the motor accident, or
  • by the owner of the property, or
  • in case of death, by the legal representatives of the deceased person, or
  • by the agent who has been authorized by the person injured.

Which claim tribunal will have jurisdiction?

There are many tribunals all over India. Claimant cannot go to any tribunal as per his wish. However, he has been provided with some options where he can go to claim compensation as per his convenience.

Claimant can go to any of the following tribunals which have jurisdiction over the are where:

  1. the accident has occurred, or
  2. claimant resides, or
  3. claimant carries on his business, or
  4. defendant resides.

Lets understand it with an example. Suppose there has been an accident in Ghaziabad between Mr. A who resides in Delhi and was going for his business in Noida and Mr. B who resides in Allahabad. Mr. A suffered injury due to that accident and now wants to file an application for compensation in the claims tribunal.

Now in this situation, Mr. A can go to:

  1. Ghaziabad, where the accident took place, or
  2. Delhi, where he resides, or
  3. Noida, where he carries on his business, or
  4. Allahabad, where the defendant resides.

Mr. A can go to any of the above-mentioned tribunal as per his convenience. This option has been provided to the claimant by the Motor vehicles, act, 1988 as he has suffered the injury.

What claims tribunals can award?

Claim tribunals awards a sum as compensation which it thinks will be just and reasonable after hearing both the sides, holding the inquiry of the case and after giving the insurer notice of the application. It has to specify the amount which should be paid to the claimant and can ask the insurer, driver or the owner to pay whoever was involved in the accident. It has to mandatory deliver the copy of the award decided within fifteen days of the date of declaration of the award.

Also, the person who is required to pay the compensation should pay it within thirty days of the date of the award otherwise claims tribunal can ask the collector to recover the same in the same manner as in an arrear of land revenue.

Section 171 gives claims tribunals power even to ask for award of interest in addition to award of compensation from the date of making the claim and at the rate which it may think appropriate.

Procedures and powers

  • Under Section 169, claims tribunal has the power to follow any procedure to hold the inquiry of the case as it thinks fit and appropriate but subject to any rules which may have been made in this behalf.
  • This section provides claims tribunal all the powers of the civil court ranging from enforcing attendance of the witnesses to compelling the discovery and production of documents and other required objects.
  • For deciding the claim of compensation in any case, claims tribunal can even ask any number of persons to help in holding the enquiry who may have special knowledge in a matter on which the inquiry is being taking place.

Can the insurer be a party to the case?

Yes, in certain cases insurer can be made a party to the case where it can contest the claim on any ground which is available.

This can happen in the case when the tribunal is satisfied with the two conditions that:

  1. There is any collusion between the party which has made the claim and the party against whom it has been made, and
  2. party against whom claim has been made, is not able to pay.

When both above mentioned conditions are fulfilled and the court is satisfied, then by giving the reasons in writing to the insurer, claim tribunal can make insurer as a party to the proceedings under Section 169 of the Motor Vehicles act, 1988.

Bar on civil courts

Section 175 puts a bar on the civil Courts. No civil Courts can take up cases relating to motor accidents in the area where claim tribunals have been established.

In Mayuddin Abbas Malik v. Shanbhaivaland and anothers[5], there were four passengers travelling in a goods vehicle along with their goods. The tyre of the bus burst and bus fell into a ditch. It was held that motor vehicles claims tribunal shall have jurisdiction and not any civil Court or any other Court.

Option to claim compensation

There is a legislation in India known as Workmen Compensation Act, 1923 which provides compensation to the workers who has suffered any injury during the course of the working hours.

Suppose a worker was going somewhere in respect of his duty during which he faced an accident. Now in this case, under which legislation can the worker file for compensation? Can he claim compensation under both the acts? For solving this situation, a provision is being made under Section 167 of Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.

It has been clearly mentioned that in these types of situation, a person can claim compensation under anyone of the two acts according to his choice but not under both acts. Same was said in Kalpana v. Om Prakash[6] case. It was held that the claimant is free to choose under which act he wants to file for compensation. But once the application is filed under one act and award is passed, claimant cannot avail the remedy under the second act.

What if party is not satisfied with claims tribunal’s decision?

Section 173 of this act talks about appeals. If the party is aggrieved by the claims tribunal’s decision, it has a right to go to the high court but within ninety days of the grant of award only. But there is an exception to this.

If aggrieved party files for an appeal after ninety days, high court may entertain that appeal if it is satisfied that there was a valid and sufficient cause which prevented the party to file the application in time.

There are other few requirements also which must be fulfilled before making an appeal to the high court. The party must deposit twenty-five thousand rupees or fifty percent of the amount awarded, whichever is less, to the high court in the manner directed by it.

Also, no appeal can be filed if the amount in question is less than ten thousand rupees.

Conclusion

Motor vehicles act, 1988 have been enacted to provide safety to the victims. Provisions regarding claims tribunal have been very well established for providing speedy trial and justice to all the victims of motor accidents. They have been given their separate powers and jurisdiction over which they exercise.

But at the same time, we must try to reduce the increasing number of accidents due to motor vehicles which can be done if people are more attentive while driving, follow traffic rules accurately instead of breaking them.

  1. statista.com/
  2. indianroadsafety.
  3. (1987) 4 SCC 284.
  4. 1990 Pat 250
  5. 1992 GJ HC 881
  6. 1989 A P 293

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