JUDGMENT :

Sanjay Karol, J.

1. Leave granted.

At the outset, we may remind ourselves of what Krishna Iyer, J. had observed in State of Haryana v. Darshana Devi, (1979) 2 SCC 236 that

“2. The poor shall not be priced out of the Justice market by insistence on court-fee and refusal to apply the exemptive provisions of Order 33, CPC.”

2. The sole point for our consideration is whether a person who is entitled to receive compensation by way of a claim before the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal can be said to have given up its status as an ‘indigent person’, by virtue of the amount slated to be received. In other words, whether a person being an award holder, of monetary compensation without actual receipt thereof, would be disentitled from filing an appeal seeking enhanced compensation as an indigent?

3. The factual scenario giving rise to this appeal is :-

3.1 The appellant, who was the original claimant before the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, [Court of Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (Auxiliary) & 10th (Adhoc) Addl. District Court Jude, Jamnagar],²[Hereafter, ‘Tribunal’] in M.A.C.P.No.255 of 2011, was injured in an accident on 4th July 2010, while riding pillion on a bike, which was hit by