Claim for compensation for Fatal Accident can be made only for benefit of spouse, parent and child of deceased and not for benefit of brother or other relations of deceased. Expression ‘Legal Representative’ : Motor Vehicles Act (59 of 1988) : S. 68.

The appellants were the father, mother and brother of
deceased. The claimants challenged the quantum of compensation. The deceased had
died in a motor vehicle accident. The deceased was aged 21 years at the time of
her death and was a famous cine artist and dancer. According to the appellants
the compensation claimed was about Rs.60,00,000. The question which arose for
consideration was whether a brother of a person killed in a motor vehicle
accident can claim compensation.

S. 166(1) of the Motor Vehicle Act states the different set
of persons who can file applications for compensation arising out of an accident
of the nature specified in S. 165(1) of the M.V. Act.

The expression ‘legal representative’ has not been defined in
the M.V. Act. Definition of the expression ‘legal representative’ has been
incorporated in S. 2(11) of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908. The said
definition, no doubt, in terms does not apply to a case before the Claims
Tribunal, but it has to be stated that even in ordinary parlance the said
expression is understood almost in the same way in which it is defined in the
Code of Civil Procedure. The definition reflects the sense in which the
expression is understood ordinarily and, therefore, must govern cases before the
Tribunal. Ordinarily, heirs of the deceased are the persons who represent the
estate of the deceased and must be taken to be his legal representatives. A
legal representative in a given case need not necessarily be the wife, husband,
parent and child. Thus in case of death of a person in a motor vehicle accident,
compensation can be claimed only by the legal representatives. They may claim
besides special damages, etc. compensation for economic loss and loss to the
estate. A brother of the deceased may be a legal representative of the deceased
in the absence of preferential heirs under the personal law governing the
parties and if so, he can claim compensation. But he cannot do so, if he is not
a legal representative entitled to succeed to the estate of the deceased. This
is so even if as a matter of fact they were dependent on the deceased for
financial help.