Sonvati And 3 Others vs Harkishor And Another
2022 Latest Caselaw 446 ALL

HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD
 
 

?Court No. - 7
 

 
Case :- FIRST APPEAL FROM ORDER No. - 372 of 2022
 

 
Appellant :- Sonvati And 3 Others
 
Respondent :- Harkishor And Another
 
Counsel for Appellant :- Pratibha Vohra
 
Counsel for Respondent :- Vipul Kumar,Vipul Kumar
 

 
Hon'ble Vipin Chandra Dixit,J.

Heard Mrs. Pratibha Vohra, learned counsel for appellants, Sri Vipul Kumar, learned counsel for respondent no.2 and perused the record.

This first appeal from order has been filed by the claimants-appellants against the judgment and order dated 9.12.2021 passed by Presiding Officer, Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Sambhal in Misc. Case No.63 of 2021 (Sonvati Vs. Harkishore and others), arising out of M.A.C.P. No.Nill of 2021, by which the application 6-C filed under Section 5 of India Limitation Act was rejected.

It is submitted by learned counsel for claimants-appellants that claims petition was filed by the claimants-appellants on 14.7.2021 under Section 166/140 of Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 on account of death of Rajpal Singh, who died on 27.3.2019 due to injuries received by him in a road accident on 19.3.2019. The claim petition was supported with an application filed under Section 5 of Indian Limitation Act.

The application filed by claimants-appellants for condonation of delay which is Paper No.6-C, was rejected by the Claims Tribunal and the delay in filing the claim petition was not condoned and the claim petition was dismissed as barred by time.

Learned counsel for claimants-appellants has submitted that claim petition was filed under Section 166/140 of Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and there was no limitation clause in filing the claim petition and as such the Claims Tribunal had erred in dismissing the petition as barred by time. It is further submitted that Section 53 of Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019 (32 of 2019), which provides six months limitation for filing the claim petition under the Motor Vehicles Act came into force with effect from first day of April, 2022 and since the claim petition was filed on 14.7.2021 and at that time there was no limitation in filing the claim petition. He placed reliance on judgment of this Court dated 21.11.2020 passed in F.A.F.O. No.1563 of 2022.

Learned counsel appearing for respondent no.2 does not disputed the aforesaid legal position.

Considering the rival submissions of learned counsel for the parties and after perusing the record, it is apparent that Section 53 of Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019 came into force with effect from 1.4.2022 and as such the Claims Tribunal had erred in dismissing the claim petition as barred by time. The appeal is hereby allowed. The order dated 9.12.2021 passed by Claims Tribunal is set-aside.

The Claims Tribunal, Sambhal is directed to decide the claim petition filed by the appellants on merits ignoring the delay condonation application by treating it within time, preferably within a period of one year from the date of production of certified copy of this order, without granting undue adjournments to either of the parties, unless there is any legal impediment.

Order Date :- 4.4.2022

Kpy