- (1.) This Appeal arises out of the impugned judgment of the Learned Member, Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, East and North Sikkim at Gangtok dated 28-09- 2012 in M.A.C.T. Case No.21 of 2010, by which in a Claim Petition under Section 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (in short the "Act"), death compensation amounting to Rs.38,44,780/- was awarded in favour of the Respondents with interest calculated @ 10% on the said amount from the date of the filing of the Claim Petition, i.e., 18-08- 2010.
(2.) The brief facts of the case leading to the filing of the Claim is that the father of the Respondent No.1, the Claimant in the original Claim Petition, who was employed as a Range Officer, NTFP/SMPB Division, Forests, Environment and Wildlife Management Department, Government of Sikkim, died in a motor vehicle accident on 07-07-2010 involving a Maruti Car bearing No.SK-02/9434 owned by the Respondent No.2, the mother of the Claimant-Respondent No.1 and the wife of the deceased.
(3.) In the original Petition, the Respondent No.2, the mother, was impleaded as Opposite Party No.1 and the Appellant-Insurance Company as Opposite Party No.2. The Claim Petition was resisted by the Appellant primarily on the ground that the deceased being the husband of the Respondent No.2, the owner of the accident vehicle, did not fall within the meaning of "third party" as contemplated under Section 165 of the Act and, therefore, was not covered under the Insurance Policy. Further, the Claimant-Respondent No.1 as the son of the Respondent No.2, the owner of the vehicle, would be a deemed insured and thus a "second party" to the Insurance Policy. As such, the Tribunal lacked the necessary jurisdiction to entertain the Claim made by such a party.;