Skip to main content

Married sister gets compensation for brother's death

Awarding Rs 51.75 lakh to a married woman for the accidental death of her brother, a Motor Accident Claims Tribunal has held that legal heirs, even if not dependent on the deceased, are eligible for compensation.
........
After hearing both the parties, Thane Additional Sessions Judge and Motor Accident Claims Tribunal member P R Kadam observed that the claimant’s advocate, S V Patkar, submitted that under MV Act section 166, where the death has resulted from the accident, the claim can be preferred by all or any of the legal representative of the deceased.

This provision does not speak about dependents, but about legal representative of the deceased. All or any of the legal representative of the deceased can prefer claim petition before the tribunal, irrespective of he/she or they being dependent or not dependent on the deceased, he noted.

In absence of class-I heirs of the deceased, married daughter/sister is entitled to claim compensation even though she may be staying separately, he observed.

The judge further said that in his view, the married daughter/sister, if she is the only legal heir, is entitled to file claim under MV Act section 166 as the word used in it is ‘legal representative’ and not a ‘dependent’.

Therefore, Judge Kadam recently awarded a compensation of Rs 51.75 lakh to the Thane woman, including Rs 51 lakh for loss of dependency (future income), and Rs 25,000 each for funeral expenses, loss of love and affection of brother and loss of estate.

Comments

Most viewed this month

The recovery of vehicles by the financier not an offence - SC

Special Leave Petition (Crl.) No. 8907  of 2009 Anup Sarmah (Petitioner) Vs Bhola Nath Sharma & Ors.(Respondents) The petitioner submitted that  respondents-financer had forcibly taken away the vehicle financed by them and  illegally deprived the petitioner from its lawful possession  and  thus,  committed  a crime. The complaint filed by the petitioner had been  entertained  by  the Judicial Magistrate (Ist Class), Gauhati (Assam) in Complaint Case  No.  608 of 2009, even directing the interim custody of the vehicle (Maruti  Zen)  be given to the petitioner vide order dated  17.3.2009.  The respondent on approaching the Guwahati High  Court against this order, the hon'ble court squashed the criminal  proceedings  pending   before  the  learned Magistrate. After hearing both sides, the Hon'ble Supreme Court decided on 30th...

Owner of vehicle is not expected to verify the genuineness of the driving license before appointing a driver

Cause Title : Rishi Pal Singh Versus New India Assurance Co. Ltd & Ors., Civil Appeal No. 4919 Of 2022, The Supreme Court Of India Date of Judgment/Order : July 26, 2022 Corum : Hemant Gupta; J., Vikram Nath; J. Background the truck owned by the appellant met with an accident. The owner deposed before the court that before employing the driver, he had taken his driving test and that he was driving the vehicle satisfactorily and  that the driver was employed with him for 3 years before the date of the accident. He produced his driving license. This was reaffirmed by the driver who deposed that the driving license was obtained from the driver and it was issued from Nagaland, but no such license was produced on record. Both the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal and the High Court have held that the owner has alleged that the driver had a driving license from Nagaland but the same was not produced and therefore, the Insurance Company is entitled to recover the awarded amount...

Person Being Prosecuted To Be Provided With All Relevant Documents

The Delhi High Court, in the case of Poonam Jain vs Union of India & Ors, noted that a person being prosecuted against has a right to be provided with all the material relied upon by the prosecuting agency to prosecute her/ him. In the instant case, a search was conducted at the residences of the petitioners and their statements were recorded and several documents were seized. They were issued show cause notices under Section 276 C(1) and Section 277 of the Income Tax Act, Section 181 of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 50 and 51 of the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act. They sought to be provided with a copy of their statements and the documents seised. However, the same was denied to them.