CONTENTS

Page No.
CERTIFICATE i
DECLARATION ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iii
LIST OF TABLES ix-xi
LIST OF FIGURES xii-xiii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xiv-xv
LIST OF CASES xv-xxix

I. INTRODUCTION AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 1-36

1.1 Introduction 1
1.1.1 The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 1994 9
1.1.2 The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act 2000 11
1.1.3 Law Commission’s 119th Report 11
1.1.4 The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2001 12
1.1.5 Motor Vehicles Amendment Act 2019 13
1.2 Accidental Claim Settlement: English Law vis-a-vis 14
Indian Law
1.3 Necessity and Purpose of Compensation 18
1.4 Covid-19 vis-à-vis Motor Accidents 18
1.5 Review of the Existing Literature 21
1.6 Research Gap 30
1.7 Object of the Study 31
1.8 Hypothesis 31
1.9 Significance of the Study 32
1.10 Research Questions 32
1.11 Research Methodology 33
1.12 Chapterisation Plan 33

II THE MOTOR VEHICLES ACT, 1988: ITS SALIENT 37-79

FEATURES AND RELEVANT PROVISIONS

2.1 Introduction 37
2.2 Salient Features of Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 37

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 2.3 Driving License: Its Issuance, Effectiveness and 39
Validity
2.4 Provisions Related to Compensation Under the Act 40
2.4.1 Liability to Pay Compensation on the Principle of 40
‘No Fault.’
2.4.2 No-fault liability vis-à-vis Strict Liability: 43
2.4.3 Significance of Motor Vehicle Insurance 45
2.4.4 Provisions related to Third party insurance 46
2.5 Hit And Run Accident 48
2.5.1 Compensation in Cases of Hit and Run 49
2.5.2 Statutory Provisions in Hit and Run Cases: 50
2.5.3 Refund in certain cases of compensation paid for hit 51
and run cases
2.5.4 Evaluation of Statutory Provisions in Cases of 'Hit 53
and Run'
2.5.5 Changes Introduced by the Amendment Act of 2019 54
in Provisions Relating to 'Hit and Run' Motor
Accidents
2.6 Compensation under Amended Provisions – In case of 54
payment under the
2.6.1 Refund of compensation paid under Section 161 55
2.7 Introduction of a new provision Golden Hour 56
2.8 Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Act 2019 59
2.8.1 Introduction of Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act 59
2019
2.9 Conclusion 78

III. WORKING OF CLAIMS TRIBUNAL UNDER MOTOR 80-106

VEHICLES ACT, 1988
3.1 Introduction 80
3.2 Procedure of Inquiry Conducted by MACT 84
3.2.1 Directions with regard to maintenance of records by 84
Nazirs
3.3 Procedure and Powers of the Claims Tribunal 85
3.3.1 Procedure for Recording Evidence under MACT 86
3.4 Persons entitled to File Claim Petition under Motor 86
Vehicles Act
3.5 Application for Compensation 87
3.6 Essential Documents Required To File Claim 87
3.7 Place For Filing Application of Compensation 88

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 3.8 Option Regarding Claims for Compensation in 88
Certain Cases
3.9 Transfer of Claims from One Tribunal To Another 89
Tribunal
3.10 Death on Road vis-à-vis Death Due to Road Accident 90
3.11 Conversion of Application U/S 163A To Section 166 91
3.12 Claims For Third Parties 92
3.13 Award of Claims Tribunal 94
3.14 Recovery of Money From Insurer As Arrears of Land 95
Revenue
3.15 Amendment of Pleadings for Enhancement of Award 96
3.16 Claim Amount and Deductions 97
3.17 Tribunal’s Jurisdiction to Set-aside Award Procured 98
by Fraud
3.18 Tribunal Awarding More Compensation than 100
Claimed
3.19 Appeal against Decisions of Claims Tribunal 101
3.19.1 Joint Appeal by the Parties 102
3.20 Significance of Lok Adalats 102
3.21 Conclusion 105

IV. ROLE OF INSURANCE COMPANIES IN MOTOR 107-133

ACCIDENTS: ITS RIGHTS AND DUTIES
4.1 Introduction 107
4.2 Property Accident Aspect 108
4.2.1 Insurance Policy Covering the Risk of Third Party 109
Only
4.2.2 Reciprocal Nature of Insurance Contract 110
4.3 Liability of the Insurance Company 111
4.4 Personal Accident Aspect 112
4.5 Objects of the Insurance Policy 113
4.6 Requirement of Policies and Limits of Liability 115
4.7 Legal Objectives 115
4.8 Principle of No-fault liability vis-à-vis Insurance 117
Company
4.9 Amount of compensation payable 118
4.10 Defence of Breach of Policy 122
4.11 Legal Defense Available to the Insurance Industry 123
towards Third Party

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 4.11.1 Driving License: its legality, validity and admissibility 124
4.11.2 Liability in Case of Gratuitous Passenger 124
4.11.3 Dishonor of cheque of insurance premium 125
4.11.4 Transfer of Vehicle 125
4.11.5 Collusion between Parties 126
4.12 Right of Pay and Recover 126
4.13 Changes introduced in nature and extent of insurer's 128
liability by the Amendment Act of 2019
4.13.1 Related Amendments in the Concerned Section 131
4.14 Conclusion 132

V. JUDICIAL TRENDS IN AWARDING COMPENSATION 134-191

UNDER MOTOR VEHICLES ACT
5.1 Introduction 134
5.2 Jurisprudential Aspect of Compensation 137
5.3 Claiming of compensation under the Act. 140
5.4 Motor Vehicles Act: A Social Welfare Legislation 141
5.5 Assessment of the Compensation under the Act 143
5.6 Methods To Determine the Compensation 145
5.7 Provisions related to Filing of Claim Petition 146
5.8 Principle of ‘Just Compensation’ 148
5.8.1 Compensation Under Amended Provisions 150
5.9 Selection of Multiplier 151
5.9.1 Compensation payable in Fatal Accidents 153
5.9.2 Compensation payable in Injury Cases 154
5.9.3 Pecuniary Damages and Special or General Damages 155
5.10 Consideration of Future Prospects 156
5.11 Cases Involving Death of minor 158
5.12 Quantum of compensation 165
5.12.1 Compensation on the Basis of Nature of Accident: 166
5.13 Deductions in the amount of award 181
5.13.1 Deduction on lump sum payment 182
5.13.2 Deduction: when not permissible 185
5.14 Appeal against the Award 186
5.14.1 New plea cannot be allowed to be raised in appeal. 188
5.15 Conclusion 190

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VI. ANALYTICAL STUDY OF THE MOTOR ACCIDENT 192-242
CLAIMS: WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE
STATE OF PUNJAB

VII. CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 243-274

BIBLIOGRAPHY i-x

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