Every year even every day many people lose their lives in road hazards. Sometimes it is caused because their fault and many times, they have to pay for the action of the others. But what is the remedy/compensation available to a person who suffers because of the wrong actions of others or available to the legal heirs of the sufferer? [i] The Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 is the remedy and the legislation for such. It is through this Act that all the offenders/causers are held liable in the form of punishment they have to compensate the victim and give some monetary amount. This Act aims at preventing motor vehicle accidents, and if in case it happens and results in injury, it ensures that the victim gets justice and the offender who caused the accident gets punished and awarded punishment.[ii]
A person injured (that is either physical or
the loss of property) in a motor accident or legal representatives (which
includes the family members and legal heirs) of the person deceased in a motor
vehicle hazard may apply for compensation under Motor Vehicle Act 1988. It is
an act to prevent motor vehicle accidents and in case of happening of an
accident provides adequate compensation to the injured person and punishes the
wrongdoers/offender[iii].
It is an Act that covers all the aspects of road transport vehicles (Section 2).
It is legislation that ensures the welfare of the public after they meet with an accident (Section 165 “claim tribunals”).
Chapter 2 of the Act deals with the ‘License of Driver of Motor Vehicles’. Sec. 10 states, ‘Driving License’ as a license issued by the concerned authority to the driver of any vehicle to drive vehicle otherwise than as a learner.
Section 3 defines the qualification for deriving a motor vehicle.
Chapter 3of the Act deals with the ‘Licensing of Conductors of State Carriages’.
Chapter 4 of the Act covers ‘Registration of Motor Vehicles. Under this Section 39 speaks about the necessary things for registration.
‘Liability without Fault in certain cases’ comes under Chapter X of the Act. Section 140, Section 141, and Section 142 deal with Liability in paying compensation in certain events and cases.
On the principle of no-fault, provisions as to other rights to claim compensation for death and permanent disablement and permanent disability of the person and persons involved respectively.
Where Sec. 177 covers the aspect of General provisions of punishment of offences.
It includes the concept of ‘Third Party’. The ‘third party’ here means those innocent people and people (like pedestrians and other general public) who are helpless and have been affected because of the reckless driving of the drivers/offender.
Compensatory provisions in Motor Vehicle Act 1988
Sec. 166 of the Act tells about who can apply for compensation in Motor Accident Claims Tribunals. As per Sec. 166 of the Act, a person claims compensation if:
He has sustained/received
an injury.
He is the legal owner of
the property involved.
He is the Legal
representative of the person who died in the Motor Accident generally including
the family of the person involved.
He is the agent (such as
the lawyer or other agency appointed by him) authorized by the injured person
involved in the accident, or by the legal representatives of the deceased, as
the case may be.
There is no prescribed/defined limit within which the
claim application has to be filed in the Motor Vehicle Act or any other act.
But claiming the compensation after a long unnatural/undefined period might
result in raising doubts in the minds of the Tribunal which can result in case
rejection or the failure of the petition. Therefore, even though there is no
prescribed limit to apply for compensation it should be claimed within a
reasonable time or even beyond such but with reasonable cause.
The Supreme Court of India in National Insurance Company Limited v. Pranay Sethi laid down the guidelines and rules for assessing the amount of compensation to be paid by the offender/driver to the accident victims/plaintiff who are self-employed (a shop owner), or have fixed salary (employee in a company), or have a permanent salary (government officer either retired or in duty). The Court held that the concept of ‘just compensation’ should be based on the reasonableness, equity, fairness, and good conscience of the tribunals.
If the age of the deceased
person was 40-50 of age and had a permanent job the addition of 50% of his
actual salary is to be made as compensation.
If the deceased was above
50 years of age then there would be no addition to the compensation.
If the deceased had a fixed
salary or was self-employed then his actual salary at the time of his death was
to be considered for compensation.
A
new category is also added which included the deceased who have been
self-employed or had a fixed salary. It is as follows:
If the deceased person had
a permanent job: –
Age
Addition made
Below 40 years
50%
Between 40-50 years
30%
Between 50-60 years
15%
If the deceased person had
been self-employed or had been a fixed salary –
Age
Addition made
Below 40 years
40%
Between 40-50 years
25%
Between 50-60 years
10%
The
Court also added a few other rules for giving compensation in case of:-
Loss of estate
Rs 15,000
Loss of consortium
Rs 40,000
Funeral
Rs 15,000
It
was decided that these amounts were to be increased after three years at the
rate of 10%.[iv]
Conclusion
There are satisfactory provisions for compensation under the Motor Vehicle Act 1988 which can be improved by the state government. The compensatory provisions in the act have been improved by the supreme court in the cases stated above but it has some shortcomings as it sees the life of the person involved in the accident as a monetary reward and as the salary is been increased and the also increased in the case of self-employed the provisions does apply to such the cases.
**The author is pursuing his BA LLB from Chaudhary Charan Singh University Meerut.
Disclaimer: The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author and not to the Jurisedge Academy.
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Vibhanshu Jain **
Every year even every day many people lose their lives in road hazards. Sometimes it is caused because their fault and many times, they have to pay for the action of the others. But what is the remedy/compensation available to a person who suffers because of the wrong actions of others or available to the legal heirs of the sufferer? [i] The Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 is the remedy and the legislation for such. It is through this Act that all the offenders/causers are held liable in the form of punishment they have to compensate the victim and give some monetary amount. This Act aims at preventing motor vehicle accidents, and if in case it happens and results in injury, it ensures that the victim gets justice and the offender who caused the accident gets punished and awarded punishment.[ii]
A person injured (that is either physical or the loss of property) in a motor accident or legal representatives (which includes the family members and legal heirs) of the person deceased in a motor vehicle hazard may apply for compensation under Motor Vehicle Act 1988. It is an act to prevent motor vehicle accidents and in case of happening of an accident provides adequate compensation to the injured person and punishes the wrongdoers/offender[iii].
Compensatory provisions in Motor Vehicle Act 1988
Sec. 166 of the Act tells about who can apply for compensation in Motor Accident Claims Tribunals. As per Sec. 166 of the Act, a person claims compensation if:
There is no prescribed/defined limit within which the claim application has to be filed in the Motor Vehicle Act or any other act. But claiming the compensation after a long unnatural/undefined period might result in raising doubts in the minds of the Tribunal which can result in case rejection or the failure of the petition. Therefore, even though there is no prescribed limit to apply for compensation it should be claimed within a reasonable time or even beyond such but with reasonable cause.
The Supreme Court of India in National Insurance Company Limited v. Pranay Sethi laid down the guidelines and rules for assessing the amount of compensation to be paid by the offender/driver to the accident victims/plaintiff who are self-employed (a shop owner), or have fixed salary (employee in a company), or have a permanent salary (government officer either retired or in duty). The Court held that the concept of ‘just compensation’ should be based on the reasonableness, equity, fairness, and good conscience of the tribunals.
After the case of Sarla Verma v. Delhi Transport Corporation, the following guidelines were laid to being followed:–
A new category is also added which included the deceased who have been self-employed or had a fixed salary. It is as follows:
The Court also added a few other rules for giving compensation in case of:-
It was decided that these amounts were to be increased after three years at the rate of 10%.[iv]
Conclusion
There are satisfactory provisions for compensation under the Motor Vehicle Act 1988 which can be improved by the state government. The compensatory provisions in the act have been improved by the supreme court in the cases stated above but it has some shortcomings as it sees the life of the person involved in the accident as a monetary reward and as the salary is been increased and the also increased in the case of self-employed the provisions does apply to such the cases.
**The author is pursuing his BA LLB from Chaudhary Charan Singh University Meerut.
Disclaimer: The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author and not to the Jurisedge Academy.
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[i] https://blog.ipleaders.in/road-accident-claim-compensation/#:~:text=The%20Motor%20Vehicles%20Act%2C%201988%20is%20the%20remedy.,the%20person%20who%20caused%20the%20accident%20gets%20punished.
[ii] https://blog.ipleaders.in/road-accident-claim-compensation/#:~:text=The%20Motor%20Vehicles%20Act%2C%201988%20is%20the%20remedy.,the%20person%20who%20caused%20the%20accident%20gets%20punished.
[iii] https://taxguru.in/corporate-law/compensation-motor-vehicles-act-1988.html#:~:text=An%20person%20injured%20in%20an,and%20to%20punish%20the%20wrongdoers.
[iv] https://blog.ipleaders.in/road-accident-claim-compensation/#:~:text=The%20Motor%20Vehicles%20Act%2C%201988%20is%20the%20remedy.,the%20person%20who%20caused%20the%20accident%20gets%20punished.
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