Motor Vehicles Act Section 166 — Application for compensation
CHAPTER XII CLAIMS TRIBUNALS
Civil
Summary
Sub-section (1) sets out who can file an application for compensation after an accident of the type covered by section 165. The application may be made by the person who was injured, or by the owner of the property that was damaged. If the accident resulted in death, the application can be made by all or any of the legal representatives of the deceased person. It can also be made by an agent who has been properly authorised by the injured person or by the legal representatives of the deceased.
The first proviso to sub-section (1) states that if not all legal representatives of the deceased have joined in the application, the application must still be made for the benefit of all of them, and those who did not join must be added as respondents to the application. The second proviso states that if a person accepts compensation under section 164 following the procedure in section 149, their claims petition before the Claims Tribunal will lapse.
Sub-section (2) says that the application can be filed, at the choice of the claimant, either with the Claims Tribunal that has jurisdiction over the area where the accident occurred, or with the Claims Tribunal within whose local limits the claimant resides or carries on business, or within whose local limits the defendant resides. The application must be in the prescribed form and contain the prescribed particulars.
Sub-section (3) states that no application for compensation will be entertained unless it is made within six months of the accident occurring.
Sub-section (4) provides that the Claims Tribunal must treat any report of accidents forwarded to it under section 159 as if it were an application for compensation under this Act.
Sub-section (5) states that, regardless of anything else in this Act or any other law, if a person who has the right to claim compensation for an injury dies, that right survives to their legal representatives. This applies whether or not the cause of death is related to or connected with the injury.
Official Text
(1) An application for compensation arising out of an accident of the nature specified in sub-section (1) of section 165 may be made—
(a) by the person who has sustained the injury; or
(b) by the owner of the property; or
(c) where death has resulted from the accident, by all or any of the legal representatives of the deceased; or
(d) by any agent duly authorised by the person injured or all or any of the legal representatives of the deceased, as the case may be:
Provided that where all the legal representatives of the deceased have not joined in any such application for compensation, the application shall be made on behalf of or for the benefit of all the legal representatives of the deceased and the legal representatives who have not so joined, shall be impleaded as respondents to the application. 1[Provided further that where a person accepts compensation under section 164 in accordance with the procedure provided under section 149, his claims petition before the Claims Tribunal shall lapse.] 2[
(2) Every application under sub-section (1) shall be made, at the option of the claimant, either to the Claims Tribunal having jurisdiction over the area in which the accident occurred or to the Claims Tribunal within the local limits of whose jurisdiction the claimant resides or carries on business or within the local limits of whose jurisdiction the defendant resides, and shall be in such form and contain such particulars as may be prescribed: 3* * * * *.] 4[
(3) No application for compensation shall be entertained unless it is made within six months of the occurrence of the accident.] 5[
(4) The Claims Tribunal shall treat any report of accidents forwarded to it under 6[section 159] as an application for compensation under this Act.] 7[
(5) Notwithstanding anything in this Act or any other law for the time being in force, the right of a person to claim compensation for injury in an accident shall, upon the death of the person injured, survive to his legal representatives, irrespective of whether the cause of death is relatable to or had any nexus with the injury or not.]