M.N. Bhandari, J. - (1.) THESE writ petitions have been filed against the order dated 11th January, 2011 whereby application moved under Section 140 of the Motor Vehicle Act (for short "M.V. Act") was dismissed and at the same time, the claim petition was returned for its filing to the Court having jurisdiction. Learned counsel for the petitioner/s submits that though accident took place in Rajgarh, district Churu and all the other respondents other than the Railways are having their office or reside in the State of Haryana but as the office of General Manager of Zonal Railway is in Jaipur, thus claim petition so as the application under Section 140 of the M.V. Act was rightly maintained before the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Jaipur. The application under Section 140 of the M.V. Act should not have been dismissed in view of the above so as the return of claim petition for want of jurisdiction. Accordingly, the impugned order deserves to be set aside.
(2.) LEARNED counsel for the respondent - Railways, on the other hand, submits that when accident did not take place in the jurisdiction of MACT, Jaipur and even the respondents are having office at Haryana, which includes even the office of the Railways, hence, claim petition was rightly returned to the claimant so as the dismissal of the application under Section 140 of M.V. Act. I have considered the submissions made by learned counsel for the parties and perused the re cored.
(3.) THE MACT passed two orders on 11th January, 2011. The first order was is on an application under Section 140 of the M.V. Act. For ready reference, the said provision is quoted hereunder: "40 (Sic 140). Liability to pay compensation in certain cases on the principle of no fault. - -1. Where death or permanent disablement of any person has resulted from an accident arising out of the use of a motor vehicle or motor vehicles, the owner of the vehicle shall, or, as the case may be, the owners of the vehicles shall, jointly and severally, be liable to pay compensation in respect of such death or disablement in accordance with the provisions of this section. 2. The amount of compensation which shall be payable under sub -section (1) in respect of the death of any person shall be a fixed sum of twenty -five thousand rupees and the amount of compensation payable under that sub -section in respect of the permanent disablement of any person shall be a fixed sum of twelve thousand rupees. 3. In any claim for compensation under sub -section (1), the claimant shall not be required to plead and establish that the death or permanent disablement in respect of which the claim has been made was due to any wrongful act, neglect or default of the owner or owners of the vehicle or vehicles concerned or of any other person. A claim for compensation under sub -section (1) shall not be defeated by reason of any wrongful act, neglect or default of the person in respect of whose death or permanent disablement the claim has been made nor shall the quantum of compensation recoverable in respect of such death or permanent disablement be reduced on the basis of the share of such person in the responsibility for such death or permanent disablement.";