Parents of victim daughter can be legal heirs even though she was married particularly when her husband was no more living.

Bombay High Court: Dealing with a case relating to insurance claim by the parents of a 19 year old woman who, along with her husband, died in an accident, the Court held that the parents of the victim daughter can be legal heirs even though she was married particularly when her husband was no more living. The Court, upon reading of the provision under Section 163-A of the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988 held that any legal heir is entitled to claim compensation awardable under the Act, however, the Court said that the decision should be based on the evidence led by the parties in the claim application. It was also held that the jurisdiction of the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT), having regard to the terminologies used in the Act, is wider than the civil court.

Earlier MACT had declined to decide the claim application on account that the address given by the insurer did not match with the address given by the applicants and that the address was changed without signature of the Registrar/Authority. The High Court directed MACT to decide the claim application expediently, preferably within 6 months. [Manohar Maruti Ghule v. Dang Sanjeev, First Appeal No. 132 of 2013, decided on October 11, 2013]

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