Mother-in-law living with son-in-law legal representative under MV Act: SC
New Delhi: A mother-in-law residing with her son-in-law is a legal representative under the provision of the Motor Vehicles Act and is entitled to compensation under a claim petition, the Supreme Court on Monday said.
A bench of Justices S A Nazeer and Krishna Murari said it is not uncommon in Indian society for the mother-in-law to live with her daughter and son-in-law during her old age and be dependent upon her son-in-law for her maintenance.
"Mother-in-law herein may not be a legal heir of the deceased, but she certainly suffered on account of his death. Therefore, we have no hesitation to hold that she is a 'legal representative' under Section 166 of the MV Act and is entitled to maintain a claim petition" the bench said.
The observations came on an appeal filed by the wife of a man, who died in a motor vehicle accident in 2011, challenging an order of Kerala High Court which held that mother-in- law residing with her son-in-law was not a legal representative of the deceased and also scaled down the amount of compensation.
The Motor Accident Claims Tribunal had awarded Rs 74,50,971 to the petitioners as compensation but the high court had reduced it to Rs 48,39,728. The apex court said that the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act give paramount importance to the concept of 'just and fair compensation.
"It is a beneficial legislation which has been framed with the object of providing relief to the victims or their families. Section 168 of the MV Act deals with the concept of 'just compensation' which ought to be determined on the foundation of fairness, reasonableness, and equitability.
Although such determination can never be arithmetically exact or perfect, an endeavour should be made by the Court to award just and fair compensation irrespective of the amount claimed by the applicant/s," the bench said. The apex court said the MV Act does not define the term 'legal representative' and generally, 'legal representative' means a person who in law represents the estate of the deceased person and includes any person or persons in whom legal right to receive compensatory benefit vests.
