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.

2. 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.