Court case(1987) 3 SCC 234

A person died in a motor accident involving a bus of the Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation. A claim for compensation was made before the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal under s. 110A of the Motor Vehicles Act 1939 by his brother. The Corporation objected that the claim was not maintainable at the instance of a brother: compensation for death, it argued, could be claimed only for the benefit of the wife, husband, parent and child of the deceased, the persons for whose benefit an action lies under the Fatal Accidents Act 1855. The Tribunal and the High Court upheld the brother's right to claim, and the Corporation appealed to the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal. It held that s. 110A of the 1939 Act gives the right to apply to "all or any of the legal representatives of the deceased" and is not controlled by the Fatal Accidents Act, which is a general law restricting the class of beneficiaries in a different kind of action. "Legal representative" means, as in the Code of Civil Procedure, a person who in law represents the estate of the deceased, and in the context of the Motor Vehicles Act, a beneficial statute providing for compensation to victims of road accidents, it must be read to include any such person who suffers on account of the death. A brother who is a legal representative and has suffered by the death can therefore claim compensation. The Court also observed that in a welfare State the law should move towards compensation for road accident victims without proof of fault.