- (1.) THE petitioner claimant filed a claim petition before the Workmens' Compensation Commissioner, Tonk in respect of death of her daughter Hukma who died in an accident on January 28, 1991 by truck No. R. J. E. 8221. The petitioner's contention was that her daughter Hukma was working on the said truck for loading and unloading and was in employment of the truck owner, who is non-petitioner No-1. The accident occurred during the course of her employment, as such the claim was filed before the Workmen's Compensation Commissioner (hereinafter referred to as 'the Commissioner' ). The petitioner applied for grant of interim compensation and this has been disallowed by the Commissioner by order dated December 18, 1992. It has been observed that prima facie it has not been satisfied that the deceased was an employee of the non-petitioner hence, no order can be passed under Section 140 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (for short M. V. Act ).
(2.) A preliminary objection has been raised on behalf of the non-petitioners about the maintainability of the revision petition. According to him the Commissioner is not any Court subordinate to the High Court as Section 115 C. P. C. only covers the civil Courts in normal hierarchy of Courts. This matter was decided by a Full Bench of this Court in Bashir Khan v. Ranger Social Vaniki and Ors. (1995-I-LLJ845) a question was framed by a Single Judge which was referred to a Larger Bench and while answering the question whether the Commissioner under the Workmen's Comp-ensation is a Court subordinate to the High Court and as such revision lies against the order passed by the Commissioner, it was held that revision petition under Section 115 C. P. C. was riot maintainable against the order passed by the Commissioner under the Workmen's Compensation as the Commissioner was not Court subordinate to the High Court for purposes of Section 115 C. P. C. However in the alternative it was prayed that the revision petition may be treated as a writ petition under Articles 226/227 of the Constitution of India and this prayer was allowed and the petition was decided on merits. In view of this Full Bench decision, the present revision petition is not maintainable. Hence, the learned counsel for the petitioner has prayed that this may be treated as a writ petition and for this the learned counsel for the respondents have no objection. Accordingly I proceed with this petition as it was a writ petition.
(3.) THE relevant provisions in regard to award interim compensation are contained in Sections 140 and 143 of the M. V. Act. These provisions read as under : "140 ; Liability to pay compensation in certain eases on the principle of no fault : (1) Where death or permanent disablement I 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, (4) 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. "143 : Applicability of Chapter to certain claims under Act 8 of 1923 : The provisions of this Chapter shall also apply in relation to any claim for compensation in respect of death or permanent disablement of any person under the Workmen's Compensation Act, 1923 resulting from an accident of the nature referred to in Sub-section (1) of Section 140 and for this purpose, the said provisions shall, with necessary modifications, be deemed to form part of that Act". This provision has been introduced in the M. V. Act for award of interim compensation without fault in certain cases. It is in the nature of beneficient provision which allows a fixed amount as interim compensation even before liability of the respondent is proved by showing that the accident in which the injured claimant or the deceased was injured, was due to any wrongful act, neglect or default of the owner or owners of the vehicle or vehicles or any other person and it is in order to give some relief to the injured or the dependents of the deceased that this provision has been introduced. The only conditions necessary for the award of the interim compensation are that: (i) the accident has arisen out of use of motor vehicle; (ii) the said accident has resulted in permanent disablement of the person who is making the claim or death of the person whose heirs have preferred the claim; (iii) the claim is made against the owner and the insurer of the motor vehicle involved In the accident. 1991 (2) ACJ 777.;