SUBASINI PANDA Vs. STATE OF ORISSA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal arises out of the award passed by the Second Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, Cuttack, in Misc. Case No. 86 of 1976.

(2.) ONE Kanhu Charan Panda died in an accident on October 7, 1972, at about 8.30 p.m. near Vani Vihar, Bhubaneswar, while driving the jeep bearing registration No. ORK 1908 which collided with the truck bearing registration No. ORU 24. His children are the claimants in a case under Section 110A of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1939 (for short, ' the Act ').

(3.) OPPOSITE party Nos. 1 and 2 are the State of Orissa represented by the Secretary, Community Development Department, and the Block Development Officer, Tangi -Chowdwar, who filed separate written statements. The pleas taken by them are almost identical. They stated that the claim petition was barred by limitation and was not maintainable as a similar petition was filed by the mother of the claimants previously which was dismissed on December 21, 1974. They also alleged that there was no cause of action against opposite parties Nos. 1 and 2 inasmuch as the deceased was not ordered by any competent authority to take the vehicle to Bhubaneswar. They further asserted that the deceased could not be said to have driven the jeep or died in the course of his employment and, therefore, the State of Orissa was not liable to compensate the claimants. It was further stated by the said opposite parties that in the event it was found that the accident took place due to the rash and negligent driving of the truck, the claimants might be entitled to compensation from the owner of the truck or the insurer of the truck and not from opposite parties Nos. 1 and 2. They also took a plea that the amount of compensation claimed by the claimants was highly exaggerated and arbitrary.