THE NEW INDIA ASSURANCE CO. LTD.versusC. PADMA AND ANR.

             THE NEW INDIA ASSURANCE CO. Ll1D.                           A
                                  V.

                       C. PADMA AND ANR.

                       SEPTEMBER 12, 2003

               [S.N. VARIAVA AND H.K. SEMA, JJ.]                         B

     Motor Vehicles Act, 1988-Section 166(3) omitted by Amending Act
54 of 1994 deleting period of limitation-Accident in 1989-Claim for
compensation filed in 1995-Limitation-Ejfect of omission of Section
166(3) by Amending Act-Intention of Parliament-Held, the Act is a C
beneficial legislation-Parliament intended to do away with limitation by
omission a/Section 166(3)-Hence, claim not barred by limitation-Motor
Vehicles Act, 1939, Section 1 JO-A-Limitation Act, 1963, Article 137-
General Clauses Act, 1897, Section 6A.

      Respondents sustained bodily injuries in a motor accident which D
took place on 18.2.1989. They filed a claim petition before Claims
Tribunal on 2.11.1995 claiming a compensation of Rs. 1 lakh. The
Tribunal rejected the plea of limitation raised by the appellant and
awarded a compensation of Rs. 45,000 to the respondents. The revision
petition filed by the appellant was dismissed by the High Court.      E
      In appeal to this Court, the appellant contended that the claim
petition filed by the respondents was barred by limitation under Section
166(3) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 read with section 110-A of the
Motor Vehicles Act, 1939 (since repealed) and that the claim petition
can not be revived under the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 1994; F
that Section 6A of the General Clauses Act, 1897 provides that the
repeal ofa provision will not affect the continuance of the enactment so
repealed; and that since no limitation has been prescribed by the
Legislature after the Amendment Act, Article 137 of the Limitation
Act, 1963 may be invoked to discourage stale claims leading to
multiplicity of litigation for non-prescribing the period of limitation. G

     Dismissing the appeal, the Court

     HELD : 1. When the respondents filed claim petition on 2.11.1995
before the Claims Tribunal, subsection (3) of Section 166 of the Motor
                                                                         H
                                 677
    678                  SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2003] SUPP. 3 S.C.R.

A Vehicles Act, 1988 had been omitted by Motor Vehicles (Amendment)
    Act, 1994 which came into effect from 14.11.1994. The effect of the
    amendment is that there is no limitation for filing claim petitions before
    the Tribunal in respect of any accident with effect from 14.11.1994.
    Hence, the Tribunal was bound to entertain the claim petition without
    taking note of the date on which the accident took place.
B        [680-E, 683-G, HJ

         2. Section 6A of the General Clauses Act, 1897 undoubtedly
    provides that the repeal of a provision will not affect the continuance of
    the enactment so repealed and in operation at the time of repeal.
    However, this is subject to 'unless a different intention appears'. In
C   Dhannalal's case, the reason for the deletion of subsection (3) of section
    166 has been set out. Thus 'the different intention' clearly appears and
    Section 6A of the General Clauses Act would not apply. [684-A, BJ

          Dhannalal v. D.P. Vijayvargiya, [1996J 4 SCC 652, relied on.

D         Vinod Gurudas Raikar v. National Insurance Co. Ltd, distinguished.

         3. Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 is a beneficial legislation aimed at
    providing relief to the victims or their families, if otherwise the claim is
    found genuine. It is a self contained Act which prescribes mode of filing
    the application, procedure to be followed and award to be made. The
E   Parliament, in its wisdom, realised the grave injustice and injury being
    caused to the heirs and legal representatives of the victims who suffer
    bodily injuries/die in accidents, by rejection of their claim petition at
    the threshold on the ground of limitation and purposely deleted
    subsection (3) of Section 166, which provided the period of limitation
F   for filing the claim petitions and this being the intendment of the
    Legislature to give effective relief to the victims and the families of the
    motor accidents untrammelled by the technicalities of the limitation,
    invoking of Article 137 of the Limitation Act, 1963 would defeat the
    intendment of the Legislature. [684-G-H, A, BJ

G        CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No. 5764 of
    1997.

         From the Judgment and Order dated 5.12.96 of the Madras High
    Court in C.R.P. No. 3021 of 1996.

H         Sunil Kapoor for M.K. Dua for the Appellant.
    THE NEW INDIA ASSURANCE CO. LTD. v. C. PADMA [SEMA, J.] 679

     The Judgment of the Court was delivered by                               A
      SEMA, J. : This appeal is directed against the judgment and order
dated 5.12.1996 passed by the High Court.

     Briefly stated the facts leading to the filing of the present appeal arise
out of the following circumstances. In a motor accident, which took place B
on 18.2.1989, the respondents sustained bodily injuries. The claim petition
was filed on 2.11.1995, claiming compensation of Rs.one lakh. The Claims
Tribunal rejected the plea of limitation raised by the appellant herein and
awarded compensation of Rs. 45,000/-. The Revision Petition, filed by the
appellant, was also dismissed by the High Court on 5.12.1996.                   C
      We have heard Mr. Sunil Kapoor, learned counsel for the appellant.
Respondent Nos. I and 2 were put to notice. The Office Report dated
24.7.2003 disclosed that the notice was served on respondent No. I on 14th
October, 1997 by affixing notice on the door of the house of respondent
No.I. A certificate of the High Court dated 24!.l October, 1997 indicates D
that respondent No.2 had refused to accept the 11otice and the same was
affixed on the door of her given address. The respondents are, therefore,
not represented before us.

       The only contention, which has been strenuously urged by the counsel E
for the appellant, is that the accident had taken place on 18.2.1989 and the
claim petition was filed on 2.11.1995; when the claim was barred under
the old Act, the same could not have been revived under the new Act. It
is his contention that on this score alone the claim petition should have been
dismissed. To answer this contention it would be useful to have a quick p
survey of changes that have taken place in the Act. The old Act of 1939
has been repealed and since then there is a sea of changes in the Act. In
the old Motor Vehicles Act, I 939(hereinafter referred to as 'the Act') sub-
section (3) of Section I 10-A provided:

              "110-A. (3) No application for such compensation shall be G
         entertained unless it is made within six months of the occurrence
         of the accident:

              Provided that the Claims Tribunal may entertain the
         application after the expiry of the said period of six months if it H
    680                   SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2003] SUPP. 3 S.C.R.

A            is satisfied that the applicant was prevented by sufficient cause
             from making the application in time."

          The 1939 Act was repealed w.e.f 1.7.1989. The period of limitation
    prescribed in the new Act is provided under sub-section (3) of Section 166.
B   It reads:-

                  "166.(3) No application for such compensation shall be
             entertained unless it is made within six months of the occurrence
             of the accident:

C                 Provided that the Claims Tribunal may entertain the
             application after the expiry of the said period of six months but
             not later than twelve months, if it is satisfied that the applicant
             was prevented by sufficient cause from making the application in
             time."

D        The only difference that has been brought about in between the old
    Act and the new Act is that the Tribunal may entertain an application after
    the expiry of period of six months but not later than twelve months.

          In the instant case, at the time, when the respondents had filed claim
E   petition on 2.11.1995, the situation was completely different. Sub-section
    (3) of Section 166 of the Act had been omitted by Act 53 of 1994 w.e.f.
    14.11.1994. The result of the Act 53 of the Motor Vehicles (Amendment)
    Act, 1994 is that there is no limitation prescribed for filing claim petitions
    before the Tribunal in respect of any accident w.e.f. 14.11.1994.
F         It is noticed that the High Court while dismissing the Revision
    Petition filed by the appellant had followed the decision rendered by this
    Court in Dhannalal v. D.P. Vijayvargiya, [1996] 4 SCC 652. The facts of
    that case were like this. The appellant was injured in a motor accident,
    which took place on 4-12-1990. The claim petition for compensation was
G   filed before the Tribunal on 7.12.1991 along with an application for
    condonation of delay, which was allowed by the Tribunal by its order dated
    18.11.1993. The validity of order of the Tribunal was challenged before
    the High Court and the High Court by its order dated 31.7 .1995 set-aside
    the order of the Tribunal holding that the power of Tribunal to condone
H   the delay under Sub-section (3) of Section 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act
    THE NEW INDIA ASSURANCE CO. LTD. v. C. PADMA [SEMA, J.] 681

of 1988 had been withdrawn and therefore the claim petition must be filed A
within the period prescribed therein. This Court set aside the High Court
order.

     This Court in Dhannalal 's case (supra), after examining the effect of
the various amendments that have been brought about in the Act, stated B
in paragraphs 6 and 7 as under:-

        6."Before the scope of sub-section (3) of Section 166 of the Act
        is examined, it may be pointed out that the aforesaid sub-section
        (3) of Section 166 of the Act has been omitted by Act 53 of the
        Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 1994 which came in force C
        w.e.f. 14.11.1994. The effect of the Amending Act is that w.e.f.
        14.11.1994 there is no limitation for filing claims before the
        Tribunal in respect of any accident. It can be said that Parliament
        realised the grave injustice and injury which was being caused to
        the heirs and legal representatives of the victims who died in D
        accidents by rejecting their claim petitions only on ground of
        limitation. It is a matter of common knowledge that majority of
        the claimants for such compensation are ignorant about the period
        during which such claims should be preferred. After the death
        due to the accident of the breadeamer of the family, in many cases E
        such claimants are virtually on the streets. Even in cases where
        the victims escape death some of such victims are hospitalised for
        months if not for years. In the present case itself the applicant
        claims that he met with the accident on 4.12.1990 and he was
        being treated as an indoor patient till 27.9.1991. According to us, F
        in its wisdom, Parliament rightly thought that prescribing a period
        of limitation and restricting the power of the Tribunal to entertain
        any claim petition beyond the period of twelve months from the
        date of the accident was harsh, inequitable and in many cases was
        likely to cause injustice to the claimants. The present case is a G
        glaring example where the appellant has been deprived by the
        order of the High Court from claiming the compensation because
        of delay of only four days in preferring the claim petition.

              7. "In this background, now it has to be examined as to what
        is the effect of omission of sub-section (3) of Section 166 of the H
    682                SUPREME COURT REPORTS (2003] SUPP. 3 S.C.R.

A         Act. From the amending Act it does not appear that the said sub-
          section (3) has been deleted retrospectively. But at the same time,
          there is nothing in the amending Act to show that benefit of
          deletion of sub-section (3) of Section 166 is not to be extended
          to pending claim petitions where a plea of limitation has been
          raised. The effect of deletion of sub-section (3) from Section 166
B
          of the Act can be tested by an illustration. Suppose an accident
          had taken place two years before 14.11.1994 when sub-section (3)
          was omitted from Section 166. For one reason or the other no
          claim petition had been filed by the victim or the heirs of the
          victim till 14.11.1994. Can a claim petition be not filed after
c         14.11.1994 in respect of such accident? Whether a claim petition
          filed after 14.11.1994 can be rejected by the Tribunal on the
          ground of limitation sa~ing that the period of twelve months
          which had been prescribed when sub-section (3) of Section 166
          was in force having expired the right to prefer the claim petition
D         had been extinguished and shall not be revived after deletion of
          sub-section (3) of Section 166 w.e.f. 14.11.1994? According to
          us, the answer should be in negative. When sub-section (3) of
          Section 166 has been omitted, then the Tribunal has to entertain
          a claim petition without taking note of the date on which such
E         accident had taken place. The claim petitions cannot be thrown
          out on the ground that such claim petitions were barred by time
          when sub-section (3) of Section 166 was in force. it need not be
          impressed that Parliament from time to time has introduced
          amendments in the old Act as well as in the new Act in order to
          protect the interests of the victims of the accidents and their heirs
F         if the victims die. One such amendment has been introduced in
          the Act by the aforesaid Amendment Act 54of1994 by substituting
          sub-section (6) of Section 158 which provides:

                "158. (6) As soon as any information regarding any accident
G         involving death or bodily injury to any person is recorded or
          report under this section is completed by a police officer, the
          officer in charge of the police station shall forward a copy of the
          same within thirty days from the date of recording of information
          or, as the case may be, on completion of such report to the Claims
H         Tribunal having jurisdiction and a copy thereof to the concerned
    THE NEW INDIA ASSURANCE CO. LTD. v. C. PADMA [SEMA, J.) 683

        insurer, and where a copy is made available to the owner, he shall A
        also within thirty days of receipt of such report, forward the same
        to such Claims Tribunal and insurer."

              In view of sub-section (6) of Section 158 of the Act the
        officer-in-charge of the police station is enjoined to forward a
        copy of information/report regarding the accident to the Tribunal B
        having jurisdiction. A copy thereof has also to be forwarded to
        the insurer concerned. It also requires that where a copy is made
        available to the owner of the vehicle, he shall within thirty days
        of receipt of such copy forward the same to the Claims Tribunal
        and insurer. In this background, the deletion of sub-section (3) C
        from Section 166 should be given full effect so that the object of
        deletion of the said section by Parliament is not defeated. If a
        victim of the accident or heirs of the deceased victim can prefer
        claim for compensation although not being preferred earlier
        because of the expiry of the period of limitation prescribed, how D
        the victim or the heirs of the deceased shall be in a worse position
        if the question of condonation of delay in filing the claim petition
        is pending either before the Tribunal, the High Court or the
        Supreme Court. The present appeal is one such case. The
        appellant has been pursuing from the Tribunal to this Court. His
        right to get compensation in connection with the accident in E
        question is being resisted by the respondents on the ground of
        delay in filing the same. If he had not filed any petition for claim
        till /4.11./994 in respect of the accident which took place on
        4.12.1990, in view of the amending Act he became entitled to file
        such claim petition, the period of limitation having been deleted, F
        the claim petition which has been filed and is being pursued up
        to this Court cannot be thrown out on the ground of /imitation."
                                                       (Emphasis supplied)

      The ratio laid down in Dhannala/'s case (supra) applies with full
force to the facts of the present case. When the claim petition was filed G
sub-section (3) of Section 166 had been omitted. Thus, the Tribunal was
bound to entertain the claim petition without taking note of the date on
which the accident took place. Faced with this situation, Mr. Kapoor
submitted that Dhannala/'s case does not consider Section 6A of the
General Clauses Act and therefore, needs to be reconsidered. We are H
    684                   SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2003] SUPP. 3 S.C.R.

A unable to accept the submission. Section 6A of the General Clauses Act
    undoubtedly provides that the repeal of a provision will not affect the
    continuance of the enactment so repealed and in operation at the time of
    repeal. However, this is subject to "unless a different intention appears".
    In Dhannala/'s case the reason for the deletion of sub-section (3) of Section
B   166 has been set out. It is noted that the Parliament realized the grave
    injustice and injury caused to heirs and legal representatives of the victims
    of accidents if the claim petition was rejected only on ground of limitation.
    Thus "the different intention" clearly appears and Section 6A of the
    General Clauses Act would not apply.

c         Mr. Kapoor, learned counsel for the appellant, has placed reliance on
    the decision rendered by this Court in Vinod Gurudas Raikar v. National
    Insurance Co. Ltd., AIR (1991) SC 2156. The facts of that case were that
    the appellant was injured in an accident, which took place on 22.1.1989.
    The claim petition of the appellant was filed on 15 .3 .1990 with a prayer
D   for condonation of delay. The Tribunal held that in view of sub-section
    (3) of Section 166 of the new Motor Vehicles Act, which came into force
    on 1.7.1989, the delay of more than six months could not be condoned.
    In the facts and circumstances of that case this Court held that the case of
    the appellant was covered by the new Act and the delay for a longer period
E   than six months could not be condoned. In our view, the facts of the case
    in Vinod Gurudas (supra) are different from the facts of the present case,
    as noticed above.

           Learned counsel for the appellant, next contended that since no period
    of limitation has been prescribed by the Legislature, Article 137 of the
F   Limitation Act may be invoked, otherwise, according to him, stale claims
    would be encouraged leading to multiplicity oflitigation for non-prescribing
    the period of limitation. We are unable to countenance with the contention
    of the appellant for more than one reason. Firstly, such an Act like Motor
    Vehicles Act is a beneficial legislation aimed at providing relief to the
G   victims or their families, if otherwise the claim is found genuine. Secondly,
    it is a self contained Act which prescribes mode of filing the application,
    procedure to be followed and award to be made. The Parliament, in its
    wisdom, realised the grave injustice and injury being caused to the heirs
    and legal representatives of the victims who suffer bodily injuries/die in
H   accidents, by rejecting their claim petitions at the threshold on the ground
       THE NEW INDIA ASSURANCE CO. LTD. v. C. PADMA [SEMA, J.] 685

of limitation, and purposely deleted sub-section (3) of Section 166, which A
provided the period of limitation for filing the claim petitions and this being
the intendment of the Legislature to give effective relief to the victims and
the families of the motor accidents untrammeled by the technicalities of
the limitation, invoking of Article 137 of the Limitation Act would defeat
the intendment of the Legislature.                                              B
      In the result, we do not find any infirmity in the order under challenge,
which would warrant our interference. This appeal, being devoid of merits,
is, accordingly dismissed with no order as to costs.

B.S.                                                       Appeal dismissed. C