JUDGMENT

Meenakshi Madan Rai, J.

1. On 18-09-2011, a Maruti Suzuki, Taxi vehicle, driven by one Bikash Pradhan in which Suk Maya Tamang, the stepmother of Respondent No.1, was travelling with other occupants was hit by boulders, that rolled down the hillside, after being activated by the occurrence of an earthquake at that time. Consequently, the vehicle careened off the road into the river, flowing below, in which all the occupants, except one Nim Lhamu Sherpa, were swept away by the river. The body of one Wangdi Sherpa was recovered by the riverside near Singtam. Eleven years have passed since the date of the accident and as the bodies remained unrecovered it is presumed that they all perished in the accident. The Respondent No.1 filed a Claim Petition under Section 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (hereinafter the “MV Act”) befo