PRATHVIRAJ Vs. KULVIR SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS appeal filed by the claimant -Appellant under Section 110 -D of the Motor Vehicles Act is directed against an award dated 3.9.77 passed by the Additional Member, Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, Dewas, in Claim Case No. 1 of 1976, whereby the compensation claim for Rs.20,000/ - has been dismissed.

(2.) THE facts giving rise to this appeal, which no longer in dispute, are that on 9.11.74 a girl aged about 5 years, namely Savitri who was easing on the side of the road in village Banger on the Ujjain -Dewas road was crushed under truck number MPI -397 which was being driven rashly and negligently by the driver Girdhar resulting in the instantaneous death of the child. The owner of the said truck was Kulvir Singh, which was registered with the United India Fire and General Insurance Company Ltd. The claimant, who is the maternal grand father of the deceased child Savitri, who died on the spot as a result of the said accident, filed the present claim for compensation to the tune of Rs.20,000/ - .

(3.) THE learned Member of the Tribunal on evidence found that the accident occurred on account of the rash and negligent driving of the truck by the truck driver which resulted in the death of the child. He also found that in case he were to allow the claim, a sum of Rs.2,000/ - would be the reasonable compensation considering all the facts and circumstance of the case. However, he negatived the claim mainly on the ground that the maternal grand father was not entitled to file the present claim petition as he is not covered by the provisions of Section 1(a) of the Fatal Accidents Act, according to which every such action or suit shall be for the benefit of the wife, husband, parent and child, if any, of the person whose death shall have been so caused and shall be brought by and in the name of the executor, administrator or representative of the person deceased. He, therefore, found that as the claim was not filed by the mother of the child Shantibai and as the petition does not disclose that the claimant had filed the same for the benefit of the mother of the child, the Appellant -claimant was not entitled to file this petition and thus dismissed the claim on that ground.