MOHAMMED HABIBULLAH Vs. SEETHAMMAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) WE are fully satisfied, after a careful consideration of the arguments urged by the learned counsel for the appellants, that this Letters Patent Appeal ought not to be admitted. The facts are clear. The appeal is sought to be filed by the owner of a motor vehicle and by the Insurance company, with regard to a case of a fatal motor accident, which gave rise to a justifiable claim for compensation. Not merely the Claims Tribunal constituted under the Motor Vehicles Act. which went into the question, but also the learned Judge (Venkatadri J.) who heard the civil miscellaneous appeal, both came to the unambiguous conclusion on the merits that this was a case of a motor accident that ended fatally, under such circumstances as to justify, and fully justify, the claim for compensation.

(2.) THE main argument pressed before us was that the claimant was the married sister of the victim, a bachelor who died without leaving a child, parents or any other heir. Our attention was then drawn to the provisions of the Fatal Accidents act (Central Act 13 of 1855), under Section 1-A of which an action of that kind should be brought forward by an "executor, administrator or representative of the person deceased". There are authorities of High Courts, into which we need not proceed here, since this proposition is not really relevant for out purpose, that the word "representative" in S. 1-A does not mean a legal representative of the kind contemplated in the Civil Procedure Code, but must have reference to the earlier words in the same section "for the benefit of the wife, husband, parent and child". There is much to be said for the view that, if this Central Act 13 of 1855 is to govern the claim, a married sister of the victim, who died a bachelor without leaving behind a wife, child or parents, cannot bring forward a claim of this sort for her own benefit.

(3.) BUT the law has not been stationary since the Central Act was enacted in 1855. On the contrary, there has been considerable development since then, and it is also obvious that in the subsequent century that has elapsed, the volume of motor traffic and the statistics or motor accidents, fatal or otherwise, must both have originated and increased beyond all proportions. In this perspective, the legislature has deliberately enacted the Motor Vehicles Act, and provided by virtue of Ss. 110 to 110-F of that Act, not merely a self-contained Code for the adjudication of claims to compensation on behalf of the victims of a motor accident, but also a complete machinery for the adjudication of such instances. Under S. 110-F, the jurisdiction of the Civil Court is specifically ousted by the Claims Tribunal for the area. The claim in the present case is under Ss. 110 to 110-F of the Motor Vehicles act. It has no connection whatever with the Indian Fatal Accidents Act (Act 13 of 1855) and is not advanced under any section or provision of that Act. It is noteworthy that Ss. 110 to 110-F that we have referred to, make no mention of any kind concerning any of the provisions of the Fatal Accidents Act, and do not incorporate any such provision even by the most oblique reference.