R. SELVARAJ Vs. JAGANNATHAN AND ANR.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS petition is directed against an order of the City Civil Judge taking the view that the entire claim is triable only by the Claims Tribunal under the Motor Vehicles Act and that, as such, the Civil Court has no jurisdiction. On that view, it returned the petition for leave to sue in forma pauperis to the petitioner for presentation in the proper Court. The claim consisted of two items, (i) recovery of a sum of money as for personal injuries caused to the petitioner in the course of a motor accident, and (ii) recovery of another sum of money as damage to the cycle in the course of the accident. The Court below followed Om Prakash v. N.F. & G. Insurance Co. : AIR1962MP19 . and arrived at the view that the civil Court will have no jurisdiction..

(2.) SO far as the claim in respect of the personal injuries to the petitioner is concerned, the Court below was clearly right in the view it took. Sections no (1) and 110 -F of the Motor Vehicles Act make it crystal clear that claims for compensation in respect of accidents involving bodily injury are triable only by the Claims Tribunal having territorial jurisdiction and that the civil Court's jurisdiction in respect of the matter is expressly ousted.

(3.) AS I said, section no brought into being the Tribunal for a specific purpose, namely, to try claims for compensation in respect of accidents involving the death of or bodily injury to persons arising out of the use of motor vehicles, it is only in respect of such claims, the jurisdiction of the civil Court is excluded by terms of Section 110 -F . There is absolutely no indication in either of the sections or in any other provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act to justify the proposition that the Tribunal will have jurisdiction to try any claim other than that defined in Section 110(1). It may be that this approach to the matter may involve trial of identical issue by different jurisdictions which may possibly lead to conflict of findings. But that in itself will not, in my opinion, make any difference to the limits of the jurisdiction of the statutory Tribunal set by the terms of the legislation.