PETITIONER: RAM KISHAN Vs. RESPONDENT: U. P. STATE ROADWAYS TRANSPORT CORPORATION DATE OF JUDGMENT23/04/1993 BENCH: KULDIP SINGH (J) BENCH: KULDIP SINGH (J) SINGH N.P. (J) CITATION: 1994 SCC Supl. (2) 507 ACT: HEADNOTE: JUDGMENT:
ORDER
1. Special leave granted.
2. Ram Kishan and his wife Prabhawati are the appellants
before us. Their son Hem Chand died as a result of accident
on March 2, 1974. The boy was run over by bus No. UTB-109
belonging to U.P. State Roadways Transport Corporation. It
was being driven by one Bhagwat Prasad Misra. The driver
was prosecuted under Sections 279/304-A IPC and was
convicted by the court. The appellants filed an application
for compensation along with an application for condonation
of delay before the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Jaunpur
in the year 1977. By its order dated August 4, 1978 the
Tribunal rejected the prayer for condonation of delay and
dismissed the application as time-barred. The first appeal
filed by the appellants before the High Court was dismissed
on December 7, 1981.
3.Appellant Ram Kishan, in support of the application for
condonation of delay before the Tribunal, stated that his
young son having died in the accident, he was deeply
bereaved and was not in his senses. He further stated that
he did not know the court procedure and as such he consulted
one Ram Lakhan Upadhyaya, advocate who advised him that an
application for compensation before the Motor Accident
Claims Tribunal could be filed after the decision in the
criminal trial against the accused-driver. The criminal
trial concluded on November 28, 1977 and thereafter he filed
the application before the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal in
December 1977.
4. Although the story put forward by the appellants,
for not filing the application for compensation within the
period of limitation, does not sound
+ Arising out of SLP (C) No. 11369 of 1982
508
convincing but keeping in view the facts and circumstances
of this case, especially the extreme shock under which the
appellants were labouring, we are of the view that the Motor
Accident Claims Tribunal should have condoned the delay and
decided the claim on merits.
5.We allow the appeal, set aside the judgment of the
Tribunal and of the High Court, condone the delay in filing
the application for compensation before the Motor Accident
Claims Tribunal, Jaunpur and remand the case to the Tribunal
for decision on merits after hearing the parties in
accordance with law. The Tribunal shall decide the
application expeditiously and preferably within six months
from the date of the receipt of this order. No costs.