SAROJ Vs. RAJENDRA PRASAD PATEL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This miscellaneous appeal under Sec. 173(1) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, has been preferred by the appellants/claimants being aggrieved with award dtd. 30/8/2012 passed by Additional Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Amarpatan, in Case No.34/2021 rejecting the claim preferred by present appellants, however, awarding compensation in favour of respondent No.4 who is the father of deceased- Ramakant Patel.

(2.) Facts of the case in brief are that on 8/12/2010 in the evening, the deceased- Ramakant Patel accompanied by his friend- Dileep @ Ramanuj, was going towards the house of deceased, on the way, their motorbike was dashed by one Bolero Jeep bearing Registration No.MP-19-DA-0178 being driven by respondent No.1 in rash and negligent manner, resulting into serious injuries to the deceased and subsequently, his death during treatment. The respondent No.2 is the owner of offending vehicle, which was insured with respondent No.3 on the date of incident. Facts of the case also mention that though the deceased was unmarried, but was living with appellant No.1/claimant who was widow of his brother, as her husband; Appellant No.2 is the daughter of appellant No.1 from her husband (brother of deceased). According to the appellants/claimants, they were dependent upon the deceased. After examining the evidence adduced by the parties, the learned Tribunal has came to the conclusion that the appellants herein cannot be considered as legal heirs of deceased and thus, are not entitled to get any compensation on account of his death. The learned Tribunal has also found that the claimant- Sant Kumar Pater (respondent No.4 herein) being father of deceased, is entitled to get the compensation and hence, awarded compensation to the tune of Rs.2,38,500.00 in his favour.

(3.) Learned counsel for the appellants/claimants has submitted that the learned Tribunal erred in not considering the present appellants as dependents of deceased only on the basis of marital status of appellant No.1 which is irrelevant for awarding compensation. The deceased, after the death of his brother- Rajesh, had accepted his wife and daughter as per custom of their community. The Sarpanch of village had also issued a certificate to that effect.