RIKI Vs. VIKAS BABU

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present petition under Sec. 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act preferred by the wife and the two minor sons of the deceased Sh. Krishna Kumar seeks to assail the order dtd. 29/8/2022 passed by the learned Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal in MACT No.529/2022. Vide the impugned order, the learned Tribunal has rejected the claim of the petitioners on the ground that since the fateful accident leading to the death of Shri Krishna Kumar had taken place at Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, the Tribunal did not have territorial jurisdiction to entertain the claim petition.

(2.) Learned counsel for the petitioners submits that the learned Tribunal while rejecting the petitioner's claim has failed to appreciate that it was an admitted position that the office of the respondent insurer being in Delhi was within the territorial jurisdiction of Delhi. He submits that once the office of the insurer is in Delhi, the claim petition was, in the light of the decision of the Apex Court in Malati Sardar vs. National Insurance Company Limited and ors. (2016) 3 SCC 43, very much maintainable before the Tribunal, which aspect the Tribunal has failed to appreciate.

(3.) Having considered the submissions of the learned counsel for the petitioners and perused the impugned order, I find that the learned Tribunal has failed to appreciate this aspect of the matter and has rejected the claim of the appellant merely because the accident took place in Ghaziabad, U.P. Once it was undisputed that the insurer is having an office at Delhi, the Tribunal ought to have entertained the petitioners' claim instead of rejecting the same on the ground of territorial jurisdiction.