Execution of award against owner of motor vehicle in a Civil Court.

In this batch of Civil Revision Petitions, an interesting question has been raised, but the result, however, as is to be presently demonstrated, is very unfortunate. The petitioner in all these petitions is the same and is the owner of motor vehicles. The respondents are the legal representatives of three deceased persons who were involved in a fatal accident. The question that is argued in these petitions is whether the award secured by the respondents from the Accidents Claims Tribunal constituted under the Motor Vehicles Act, can be executed in a civil Court. The respondents filed execution petitions on the foot of the award secured by them from the Accidents Claims Tribunal, in the Court of the District Judge, Salem. An objection was raised by the petitioner that the Execution Petition is not maintainable in the civil Court as there is no provision for such execution of an award under the Motor Vehicles Act. The learned District Judge, however, thought that the Civil Procedure Code, is applicable to the execution of such awards through the media of civil Courts, and held that the execution petitions were maintainable. As against the said order, the owner of the vehicles, the petitioner herein has come up to this Court canvassing the legality of the said order.

Mr. Venkataswami, learned Counsel for the petitioner, contends that the Motor Vehicles Act is a self-contained code by itself and in the absence of any provision therein enabling a claimant to file the award secured by him or her from the Accident Claims Tribunal in the ordinary civil Court of the land (for purpose •of execution) no relief as such in execution can be obtained by the claimant. He relied upon certain provisions of the Act and the rules made thereunder and contends that the order of the learned District Judge is vitiated. The respondents, however, contending contra, would state that once execution of an order of a tribunal is entrusted in the hands of civil Courts which are the ordinary Courts of the land, then the normal principle that the common law of the land is automatically attracted should apply to the instant case and in this view the execution petitions are maintainable.

It is no doubt a normal norm of law that if once matters are entrusted to a civil Court for purposes of adjudication and disposal, then the law which governs such civil Courts would apply in the absence of any specific prohibition or interdict in that behalf. Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal is constituted under section 110 of the Motor Vehicles Act, and it has the power to deal with applications for compensation arising out of an accident of the nature specified in section no. Such accidents may involve death or bodily injury to persons. Section 110-B enables the Claims Tribunal to pass what is characterised as an “ award.” For purposes of the present discussion, we are not concerned with sections 110-C and 110-B. Section 110-E however has to be necessarily quoted. It says:-

“Where any money is due from an insurer under an award, the claims tribunal may, on an application made to it by the person entitled to the money issue a certificate for the amount to the Collector and the Collector shall proceed to recover the same in the same manner as an arrear of land revenue.”

Under this provision, any award of the Claims Tribunal, in so far as it concern an insurer, is executable, in the sense that the claimants may obtain a certificate for the purpose from the Claims Tribunal, on the basis of which the Collector of the district concerned is empowered to proceed to recover the same as if it is an arrear of land revenue. Under rule 18 of the Madras Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal Rules, the several provisions of the First Schedule to the Civil Procedure Code, and mentioned therein, are made applicable to proceedings before the Claims Tribunal. It is significant, however, to note that order 21 relating to execution of decrees and orders is conspicuously absent in rule 18 of the a