The Supreme Court has held that a mother-in-law may not be a legal heir of a man but she can be treated as his legal representative to claim compensation under the Motor Vehicle Act.
"It is not uncommon in Indian society for the mother-in-law to live with her daughter and son-in-law during her old age and be dependent upon her son-in-law for her maintenance. She may not be a legal heir of the deceased, but she certainly suffered on account of his death," a bench of Justices S Abdul Nazeer and Krishna Murari said.
"Therefore, we have no hesitation to hold that she is a legal representative under Section 166 of the MV Act and is entitled to maintain a claim petition," the bench added.
The top court disagreed with a view of the Kerala High Court that a mother-in-law cannot be legal representative.
The matter related to award of compensation by the motor accident tribunal on death of a mathematics professor N Venugopalan Nair in a road mishap on June 20, 2011.
The 52-year-old deceased resided with his wife, two daughters and mother-in-law.
The High Court, here reduced the compensation awarded to the deceased family. It held the tribunal ought to have applied split multiplier for the assessment of the dependency compensation.
Allowing appeal against the High Court's judgement, the court directed the insurance company to pay a sum of Rs 85.81 lakh to the family.
It noted that the materials on record clearly establish that the mother-in-law was residing with the deceased and his family members. She was dependent on him for her shelter and maintenance upon him.
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