S.166 MVA | Mother Has First Claim Over Compensation For Death Of Bachelor Son By Virtue Of S.8 Hindu Succession Act: MP High Court

The bench comprising Justice G.S. Ahluwalia observed that by virtue of Section 8 of the Hindu Succession Act, the mother of a deceased bachelor Hindu man is the sole Class-I heir and would thus have the first claim over the compensation awarded under the MVA-

Since the deceased was a bachelor, therefore, except mother, no other Class-I heir is available. It is well established principle of law that first the property of a Hindu male shall devolve firstly upon the heirs being the relatives specific in the Class I of the schedule and if there is no heir of Class I, then upon the heirs being relatives specified in Class II of the schedule…The counsel for the appellants could not point out as to how the father, brother and grandmother of the deceased can be treated as his legal representative even in accordance of Section 8 of the Hindu Succession Act. Although it is made clear that the compensation on account of death of a person cannot be held to be a property of a male Hindu dying intestate but the provisions of Section 8 of Hindu Succession Act have been quoted to meet out the argument advanced by the appellant that the Supreme Court committed a material illegality by holding that in case of a bachelor only his mother would be considered as dependant(sic.).

Facts of the case were that the Appellants were aggrieved by the decision of the Claims Tribunal, whereby it had held that since the person who died in the accident was a bachelor Hindu man, only his mother can be said to be a Dependent for the purpose of seeking compensation under Section 166 of MVA.

Challenging the decision of the Claims Tribunal, the Appellants argued that Section 166 of MVA speaks of legal representatives and not dependents. Therefore, they asserted that since the grandmother and father of the deceased were his legal representatives, they were also entitled to seek compensation.

Examining the submissions of parties and documents on record, the Court did not find merit in the arguments put forth by the Appellants.

Referring to Section 8 of the Hindu Succession Act, the Court observed that the property of male Hindu dying intestate shall devolve firstly upon the heirs, being the relatives specified in Class I of the Schedule. Class I comprises of son, daughter, widow, mother, son of a predeceased son, daughter of a predeceased son, son of a predeceased daughter, daughter of a predeceased daughter, widow of a predeceased son, son of a predeceased son of a predeceased son, daughter of a predeceased son of a predeceased son, widow of a predeceased son of a predeceased son, son of the predeceased daughter of a predeceased daughter, daughter of predeceased daughter of a predeceased daughter, daughter of a predeceased son of a predeceased daughter, daughter of the predeceased daughter of a predeceased son.

The Court opined that in the case of death of a bachelor Hindu man, the only Class I heir left after him would be his mother. The Court, however, clarified that the compensation on account of death of a person cannot be held to be a property of a male Hindu dying intestate.

With the aforesaid observations, the Court rejected the contentions raised by the Appellants and accordingly, the appeal was dismissed.

Cause Title: Manoj Kumar & Ors. v. H.D.F.C. Insurance & Ors.(M.A.-155/2019)

Case Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (MP) 54