Retrospective change of forum under motor accident law lets claims proceed before the Tribunal despite earlier accidents.

A statutory change of forum is procedural and ordinarily operates retrospectively unless the enactment indicates otherwise. A claimant acquires a vested right of action, but not a vested right to the civil court forum; once the Claims Tribunal is constituted, civil court jurisdiction is excluded and the claim must be pursued before the Tribunal. The limitation period under section 110A(3) cannot be applied to defeat that forum change where no application could be filed before the Tribunal came into existence, and the interval between the accident and constitution of the Tribunal is not treated as applicant-caused delay. The claim application is therefore maintainable before the Tribunal.

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Issues: Whether an application for compensation under section 110A of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1939 could be entertained by the Claims Tribunal when the accident occurred before the Tribunal's constitution and the civil suit remedy had not become barred on that date.

Analysis: Sections 110A and 110F effected a change of forum and therefore operated on a procedural plane. The claimant had a vested right of action, but no vested right to the civil forum. Once the Claims Tribunal was constituted, the jurisdiction of the Civil Court stood barred and the claimant had to seek the remedy before the Tribunal. The limitation provision in section 110A(3) could not be read so as to defeat the retrospective operation of the new forum. The period between the accident and the constitution of the Tribunal could not be treated as delay attributable to the applicant, because no application could be filed before the forum came into existence. The proper approach was to treat the application as filed within reasonable time after constitution of the Tribunal, or to condone the short interval on the facts of the case.

Conclusion: The Tribunal had jurisdiction to entertain the claim application, and the civil court remedy stood excluded once the Tribunal was constituted.

Ratio Decidendi: A statutory change of forum is retrospective in operation unless the enactment clearly indicates otherwise, and where the new forum is created after accrual of the cause of action but before the civil remedy is barred, the claimant must proceed before the new forum notwithstanding that the accident occurred earlier.

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