Relief to mother delayed for 24 yrs, Madras HC says sorry

Justice N Seshasayee, on expressing hope that the agony of this mother will end now, said, “Without analysing if the mother of the victim can be blamed for the fault of the doctor who conducted the autopsy on the body of her son and denied compensation, or discussing the legal semantics on burden of proof, the fact remains that no compensation has been paid thus far, and the insurance company which objects to passing of the award on a point of maintainability of the claim before this court is yet to part with its money even as it reflects an attempt to write off the life of a citizen and the support he could have given to his parent as valueless.”

As per the case, Bakkiam’s son Lokeshwaran, a lorry driver working for one K Murugesan lost his life on May 18, 1993, due to a head on collision with a TNSTC bus. His mother first moved the authority under the Workmen Compensation Act, 1923 (WC Act) for compensation. But she lost the claim as the doctor who held the autopsy had failed to mention the victim’s name.

The mother, instead of preferring an appeal under Sec.30 of the said Act, moved the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal (MACT) seeking compensation of Rs.5 lakh under Sec.166 of Motor Vehicles Act (MV Act). This was resisted by the insurance company claiming that since the claimant had elected to prefer a claim under the WC Act, a second claim before MACT was not maintainable in view of the bar under Sec.167 of the Act.

However, the tribunal on holding that both Lokeshwaran and the driver of the bus had contributed in equal terms to the occurrence of the accident, had awarded Rs.3.47 Lakh payable with interest at 7.5% p.a. Aggrieved by the award passed, the insurance company preferred an appeal. The petition was dismissed by the judges. Justice Seshasyee, on dismissing the appeal and upholding the tribunal order, said, “A beneficial law should be understood and applied without depreciating its beneficial objective.

If this is missed, the connect between the law of those who govern it is lost.”