ACCIDENT CLAIM
In a 1st, HC recognises religious body as legal heir of dead nun
Sureshkumar.K@timesgroup.com
Chennai: 02.06.2018
In a significant first, the Madras high court has recognised a religious organisation as the legal heir of a deceased person, and declared it eligible to receive compensation in a motor accident claim.
Justice A M Basheer Ahamed permitted St Maria Auxilum Sisters’s Congress, represented by its mother general, Sister Animariya, to claim compensation for the death of Sister Alangara Mary.
On March 1, 2002, Mary died in a road accident involving a
state transport corporation bus, while she was riding a twowheeler on the Trichy-Dindigul road.
Claiming that the death occurred due to rash and negligent driving by the bus driver, the congress, of which Mary was a member, approached the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Trichy, seeking compensation.
Allowing the claim, the tribunal directed the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation Ltd, (Kumbakonam Divisional 2), to pay ₹3.22 lakh as compensation to the congress.
‘Employer cannot be legal heir of dead staffer’
Aggrieved, the corporation preferred the present appeal in the high court. When the plea came up for hearing, the corporation disputed the locus standi of the congress to claim compensation, as legal dependent of the deceased.
The corporation contended that a religious organisation cannot be a legal representative of the deceased claiming compensation. “There was an employer-employee relationship between the deceased and claimant, and so an employer cannot be a legal heir of the deceased employee,” the corporation said.
Opposing the contention, the congress relied on the decision made by the Supreme Court in Montfort Brothers of St Gabriel case and said a religious organisation might suffer considerable loss due to the death of voluntary worker making it eligible to claim such compensation.
“The deceased joined the organisation and did services to the society after denouncing her family and was working as a sister under the congress prior to the date of accident. The tribunal concluded that the claimant organisation suffered considerable loss due to the death of the voluntary worker in a fatal accident and has allowed the claim,” the congress said.
Concurring with the submissions, the judge said, when there is no evidence that the deceased was having other legal representative on the date of the accident, considering the decision of the Apex Court relied on by the congress, it has locus standi and entitled to maintain the claim petition, as legal representative of the sister.
Welcoming the judgment, advocate and motor accident claim expert V Suresh said: “Though the Supreme Court has upheld the legal right of such institutions to claim compensation on the death of its members, this is the first time the high court has allowed such a claim petition in Tamil Nadu.”
In a 1st, HC recognises religious body as legal heir of dead nun
Sureshkumar.K@timesgroup.com
Chennai: 02.06.2018
In a significant first, the Madras high court has recognised a religious organisation as the legal heir of a deceased person, and declared it eligible to receive compensation in a motor accident claim.
Justice A M Basheer Ahamed permitted St Maria Auxilum Sisters’s Congress, represented by its mother general, Sister Animariya, to claim compensation for the death of Sister Alangara Mary.
On March 1, 2002, Mary died in a road accident involving a
state transport corporation bus, while she was riding a twowheeler on the Trichy-Dindigul road.
Claiming that the death occurred due to rash and negligent driving by the bus driver, the congress, of which Mary was a member, approached the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Trichy, seeking compensation.
Allowing the claim, the tribunal directed the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation Ltd, (Kumbakonam Divisional 2), to pay ₹3.22 lakh as compensation to the congress.
‘Employer cannot be legal heir of dead staffer’
Aggrieved, the corporation preferred the present appeal in the high court. When the plea came up for hearing, the corporation disputed the locus standi of the congress to claim compensation, as legal dependent of the deceased.
The corporation contended that a religious organisation cannot be a legal representative of the deceased claiming compensation. “There was an employer-employee relationship between the deceased and claimant, and so an employer cannot be a legal heir of the deceased employee,” the corporation said.
Opposing the contention, the congress relied on the decision made by the Supreme Court in Montfort Brothers of St Gabriel case and said a religious organisation might suffer considerable loss due to the death of voluntary worker making it eligible to claim such compensation.
“The deceased joined the organisation and did services to the society after denouncing her family and was working as a sister under the congress prior to the date of accident. The tribunal concluded that the claimant organisation suffered considerable loss due to the death of the voluntary worker in a fatal accident and has allowed the claim,” the congress said.
Concurring with the submissions, the judge said, when there is no evidence that the deceased was having other legal representative on the date of the accident, considering the decision of the Apex Court relied on by the congress, it has locus standi and entitled to maintain the claim petition, as legal representative of the sister.
Welcoming the judgment, advocate and motor accident claim expert V Suresh said: “Though the Supreme Court has upheld the legal right of such institutions to claim compensation on the death of its members, this is the first time the high court has allowed such a claim petition in Tamil Nadu.”
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