1977 (8) TMI 184

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....55. A suit could be brought under Article 82 of the Limitation Act, 1963, within two years of the occurrence of the accident. But, in the meantime, the Government of U. P, constituted the Claims Tribunal by a notification published in the Gazette dated 7th March, 1967. Despite the fact that a Tribunal had been constituted at Dehra Dun. where the appellants could file an application for compensation under Section 110-A of the Motor Vehicles Act, they were advised to file a regular suit in the civil court on 1st April, 1968. The suit was contested by the respondents. One of the main grounds raised in the suit was whether the suit filed by the appellants in the civil court, after the constitution of the Tribunal under the Motor Vehicles Act, w....

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....avit explaining the delay for the period from 2nd June, 1970 to 1st July, 1970. In this affidavit, the averment made was that after the dismissal of the suit, since there were divergent opinions of different High Courts, the appellants obtained the legal opinion as to whether an appeal be filed or an application be moved and only when they were advised to move an application, they did so on the 1st of July, 1970. The Claims Tribunal, however, did not accept the grounds taken by the appellants in the application for condonation of delay, and being of the opinion that the delay had not been satisfactorily explained, dismissed the application by the order dated 6-4-1972. The application for compensation was also rejected thereafter on 26th Apr....

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....ether an application in respect of an accident occurring before the creation or constitution of Claims Tribunal was maintainable in the Claims Tribunal or that a suit could alone lie. In this view of the matter, if the appellants were advised to file the suit on 1-4-1968 instead of making an application under Section 110-A of the Act, it could not be ' said that they did not act bona fide. There are a number of reported cases, to which reference need not be made here, taking the view that an application for compensation under Section 110-A of the Act was not maintainable in respect of accidents which took place before the creation of the Claims Tribunal. It was only after 1972 when the case of Smt. Shanti Misra v. New India Insurance Co....