RAMACHANDRAN NAIR Vs. VIMALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Appellant is the registered owner of an autorickshaw bearing the number KCT 714. An accident occurred on 26-3-1993 involving the said autorickshaw in which husband of first respondent (hereinafter referred to as the deceased) died. Legal heirs of the deceased made a claim for compensation before the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal (Claim Tribunal for short). They also moved an application for interim award under S.140 of the Motor Vehicles Act 1988 (for short the Act). As per the impugned order Claims Tribunal directed the appellant to pay Rs.25,000/- as interim award.

(2.) Learned counsel contends that appellant is only the registered owner of the autorickshaw and he is not its real owner and hence he cannot be mulcted with the "no fault liability". It is for the appellant to establish that the real owner of the vehicle was someone else on the date of accident. It is appellant's obligation to get that person impleaded as a party in the proceedings. He has not done it so far. Then the question whether the Claims Tribunal should have waited till the establishment of that fact for passing the interim award. One of the mandates in S.141 of the Act is that the claim under S.140 shall be disposed of as expeditiously as possible". Sub-section (2) of S.141 reads thus:

(3.) S.141 corresponds to S.92B(2) of the old Motor Vehicles Act 1939. A Division Bench of this court has urged the need for showing urgency in dealing with claims under no fault liability (vide National Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Savithri, 1990 (2) KLT 101 ). The following passage in that decision is quite pertinent in this context: