Section 5 of the Limitation Act is not applicable to Section 166(3) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988; claim petitions must be filed within six months of the accident.

JUDGMENT :

Bipin Chander Negi, J.

The cases, in the case at hand are being taken up together, as a common question arises for consideration with respect to applicability of Section 5 of the LIMITATION ACT to Section 166 (3) of the MOTOR VEHICLES ACT , 1988 (as amended by 2019 Act).

2. Section 166 of MOTOR VEHICLES ACT reads as under: -

166. Application for compensation.

(1) An application for compensation arising out of an accident of the nature specified in sub-section (1) of Section 165 may be made-

(a) by the person who has sustained the injury; or

(b) by the owner of the property; or

(c) where death has resulted from the accident, by all or any of the legal representatives of the deceased; or

(d) by any agent duly authorised by the person injured or all or any of the legal representatives of the deceased, as the case may be:

Provided that where all the legal representatives of the deceased have not joined in any such application for compensation, the application shall be made on behalf of or for the benefit of all the legal representatives of the deceased and the legal representatives who have not so joined, shall be impleaded as respondents to the application:

Provided further that where a person accepts compensation under Section 164 in accordance with the procedure provided under section 149, his claims petition before the Claims Tribunal shall lapse.

(2) Every application under sub-section (1) shall be made, at the option of the claimant, either to the Claims Tribunal having jurisdiction over the area in which the accident occurred, or to the Claims Tribunal within the local limits of whose jurisdiction the claimant resides or carries on business or within the local limits of whose jurisdiction the defendant resides, and shall be in such form and contain such particulars as may be prescribed:

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(3) No application for compensation shall be entertained unless it is made within six months of the occurrence of the accident.

(4) The Claims Tribunal shall treat any report of accidents forwarded to it under Section 159 as an application for compensation under this Act.

(5) Notwithstanding anything in this Act or any other law for the time being in force, the right of a person to claim compensation for injury in an accident shall, upon the death of the person injured, survive to his legal representatives, irrespective of whether the cause of death is relatable to or had any nexus with the injury or not.

3. Accident in the lead case at hand i.e. had occurred on 11.06.2022. The claim petition, in the case at hand, had indisputably been filed after six months of the occurrence. Admittedly in the case at hand, the present petition arises out of an order passed in a proceeding before the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT). The MACT is a creation of a statute. It is a Tribunal distinguishable from a Court. In this respect, it would be appropriate to refer to case reported as (2010) 11 SCC 1 titled Union of India vs. Madras Bar Association , relevant para whereof is reproduced hereinbelow:-

“38. The term "courts" refers to places where justice is administered or refers to Judges who exercise judicial functions. Courts are established by the State for administration of justice that is for exercise of the judicial power of the State to maintain and uphold the rights, to punish wrongs and to adjudicate upon disputes. Tribunals on the other hand are special alternative institutional mechanisms, usually brought into existence by or under a statute to decide disputes arising with reference to that particular statute, or to determine controversies arising out of any administrative law. Courts refer to civil courts, criminal courts and the High Courts. Tribunals can be either private tribunals (Arbitral Tribunals), or tribunals constituted under the Constitution