The number of people who get killed or maimed in motor vehicle accidents is growing day by day. The main source of succour to such hapless people and their dependants is the compensation that they are entitled to receive under the law. But right from 1956, motor accident compensation law has been in a state of flux. It was in that year that the legislature amended the Motor Vehicles Act, 1939 by inserting several new sections. Over the years, many more amendments followed and in 1988, a new Motor Vehicles Act replaced the old one. This book studies various new rights created by the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 for claiming compensation in case of any death or bodily injury caused in an accident arising out of the use of a motor vehicle.

Over the years, the judiciary has not only been called upon from time to time to interpret these statutory provisions and apply them to different facts and situations, but also to lay down the legal principles for assessing compensation. The Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 does not provide any guidelines for the identification of the items of loss to be compensated; nor does it lay down any criteria for the computation of the quantum of compensation for each item of loss. The author has successfully dealt with such and other important questions.

An attempt has been made to make a comprehensive review of all aspects of the Motor Accident Compensation Law as per the new Act of 1988. The author has sought to present all the vowed viewpoints on a given aspect with copious references to the case-law. He has not adopted the usual section-wise commentary approach. On the contrary, he felt that a topic-wise discussion would be more appropriate for this subject.

The rules framed by various States under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 on accident claims have also been included in the appendix of the book. This book would be of use not only to practising lawyers, but also to legal scholars and legislative draftsmen.

Table of cases

Extracts from motor vehicles act, 1939

Extracts from motor vehicles act, 1988

Chapter I: Introduction

Chapter II: Right to Solarium u/s 161 in Hit-and-Run Cases

Chapter III: Right to Fixed Compensation u/s 140 on the Principle of No-Fault Liability

Chapter IV: Right to Structured Compensation u/s 163-a on the Principle of No-Fault Liability

Chapter V: Just Compensation on the Basis of Fault Liability

Chapter VI: Vicarious Liability of the Owner

Chapter VII: Liability of the Insurer

Chapter VIII: The Claims Tribunal-Constitution and Jurisdiction

Chapter IX: The Claims Tribunal-Claim, Claimants and Opposite Parties

Chapter X: The Claims Tribunal-Duties, Powers and Procedural Aspects

Chapter XI: The Claims Tribunal - The Award

Chapter XII: The Claims Tribunal-Appeal and Revision

Chapter XIII: Concept of 'Just' Compensation

Chapter XIV: Assessment of Compensation for Pre-Trial Pecuniary Losses

Chapter XV: Assessment of Compensation for Post-Trial Pecuniary Losses

Chapter XVI: Assessment of Compensation for Non-Pecuniary Losses

Chapter XVII: Assessment of Compensation for the Death of Women and Children

Appendix: Motor Accidents Claims Tribunals Rules Framed Under act 59 of 1988

Subject index