The Madras High Court bench here today ruled that under Motor Accidents Claims Act, both mother and father of a spinster, who died in a road accident, had equal right to claim compensation.
Justice S Vimala on a compensation case filed by Sivappan, father of Kaliammal who died in an accident, said "the mother of the woman has as much right as the father of the woman in claiming the compensation".
The mother S Parasakthi also could include herself as one of the claimants before the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, the Judge said.
Parasakthi was added as a claimant along with other legal heirs only after the death of Sivbappan. "Even at the time when the petition was filed claiming compensation, unfortunately, the mother, though alive, had not been added as a legal heir of the deceased", the judge said.
Only after the death of Sivappan, Parasakthi had been brought on record as legal heir of her deceased husband.
The mother of the deceased ought to have been on record already in the capacity as legal heir. Therefore, the major amount of compensation had to be paid only to Parasakthi, the judge said.
The judge pointed out that the accident had occurred when the victim was travelling in a trailer attached to a tractor. The driver admitted his negligence and hence a tribunal in Sankarankovil had on April 31, 2002 directed the insurance company to pay a compensation of Rs 2.92 lakh.
The Judge agreed with the insurance company that it was not liable for the driver's mistake of having allowed the woman labourer to travel in the trailer. However, the insurance company should pay the compensation first and then recover it from the tractor owner, the judge said.
The Judge said the tribunal had also wrongly calculated compensation amount by taking the age of the deceased and not that of the claimants under consideration and reduced the amount from Rs.2.92 lakh to Rs.1.84 lakh. Major portion of this should be given to the mother, the judge said.
