No-fault liability under Section 92-A includes incidents arising from a vehicle’s earlier use, despite the vehicle being stationary.

1 The appellant No. 1 at the relevant time was the owner of petrol tanker No. MXL-7461. The appellant No. 2 was the insurer of the said vehicle.

2 On 29th October, 1987, while the said petrol tanker No. MXL-7461 was proceeding from Pune side towards Bangalore along National Highway No. 4, at about 3 a.m. near village Kavathe there was a collision between the said petrol tanker and motor lorry No. MEH-4197 which was coming from the opposite direction. As a result of the said impact, the appellant No. 1's petrol tanker No. MXL-7461 fell on its left side and rested on the sloping portion at some distance away from the tarred portion of the Highway. The other vehicle, however, still stood on its four wheels at some distance from the point of impact. At about 7.30 a.m. on the same day there was an explosion, followed by fire and the said petrol tanker No. MXL-7461 was burnt down. It was also in evidence that after the said collision, a large number of persons from the neighbouring village had arrived at the place of occurrence and some of them had begun to collect and take away petrol coming out of the same tanker which was resting on one of its sides. As a result of the said explosion and fire, there was heavy casualty among the members of the crowd who had gathered around the said tanker. Six persons died on the spot and out of 61 persons who received burn injuries 21 persons expired at the hospital.

3 The respondent Smt. Vatschala Uttam More is the mother of the deceased Deepak Uttam More who was one of the victims of the said explosion and fire.

4 The said respondent filed an application under S.92-A of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1939 , against the present appellants before the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, Satara. She also filed a separate application against the same parties under S.110 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1939 , claiming Rs. 75,000/- as compensation on account of the death of her son, Deepak. We understand that 21 other similar applications came to be filed under S.92-A and 110 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1939 , claiming compensation from the present appellants on account of the deaths caused by the said explosion followed by fire. The present appellants contested the said claim made under S.92-A of the Act.

5 The learned Member of the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, Satara, by his judgment dated 22nd December, 1989, dismissed the applications under S.92-A of the said Act including the application of the present respondent holding, inter alia, that death of the victims could not be said to be on account of the accident arising out of the use of the said tanker and, therefore, provisions of S.92-A of the said Act were not attracted. The applications filed under S.110 of the said Act are still pending for disposal before the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, Satara.

6 Being aggrieved by the dismissal of her application under S.92-A of the said Act the present respondent filed First Appeal No. 54 of 1990 in this Court. The learned single Judge immediately after admitting the said appeal, with the consent of the parties had taken it up for final disposal. The learned single Judge allowed the appeal, set aside the judgment and order of the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, Satara and directed, the present appellants to pay the present respondent the amount of Rs. 15,000/- under S.92-A of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1939 . The appellants have filed the instant Letters Patent Appeal against the said judgment of the learned single Judge.

7 Having heard at length the learned Counsel on both the sides, we hold that there is no merit in this appeal. The point for determination was whether the death of the son of the present respondent had resulted from an accident arising out of the use of the motor vehicle admittedly owned by appellant No. 1 and which was insured by appellant No. 2. In our view, the learned single Judge has rightly adjudged the present appellants liable under S.92-A to pay compensation in respect of the death of the re

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