INDRAJ Vs. NARESH KUMAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) A petition claiming compensation under the Motor Vehicles Act was filed by Smt. Shanti Devi before the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Sirsa (for short, the Tribunal) on March 17, 1994. She demanded compensation for the injuries sustained by her in the motor accident, which had taken place on October 24, 1993. After filing the claim petition, she died on April 8, 1997. Her husband and two sons being her legal representatives filed an application before the Tribunal for being impleaded as petitioners in her place. The respondents opposed the application with the plea that the cause of action and right to sue did not survive after the death of the claimant and the claim petition had abated.

(2.) The plea put forward by the respondents was accepted by the Tribunal and it was held that the claim petition had abated.

(3.) Learned Counsel for the appellants has argued that even if Shanti Devi, the claimant, had died not due to the injuries suffered in the Motor Accident but due to some other cause, the right to sue would survive insofar as loss to the estate of the deceased was concerned, it is explained that Shanti Devi had, in her claim petition, demanded compensation not only for pain and sufferings but also in connection with the expenditure incurred by her on medical treatment and medicines.