PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government for the first time ordered a transport company to pay compensation to a passenger, who received injuries in an accident, in line with the provision of the decades-old law Motor Vehicle Ordinance, 1965.

The Claims Tribunal (CT) was activated last month on the directives of Chief Secretary Mohammad Azam Khan after which the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) received an application from a citizen, Mohammad Siddiqui Masih, who stated that his wife got wounds in accident while travelling in a bus from Peshawar to Lahore.

CT summoned the owner of Bilal Coach, a private bus company, who paid a compensation of Rs70,000 to the victim, officials told Dawn. They said that CT started receiving complaints from the injured or relatives of dead passengers for compensation.

Such tribunals are being established in all seven divisions that will operate under the respective deputy commissioners while heads of RTAs would act as its members.

Claims Tribunal activated last month decides first case

According to the law, in case of injury or death to a passenger in a public transport vehicle arising out of the use of such vehicle, the holder of the permit or, in the absence of the permit, the owner of the carriage shall pay, as compensation to the passenger or the legal representatives of the passenger, the specified amount.

The payable compensation shall be in addition to any sum, which the person is entitled to receive or be eligible to receive under a policy of insurance under the provisions of Section 95 of Motor Vehicles Act, 1939.

The government may, by notification in the official gazette, constitute a CT for such area or areas as may be specified in the notification, for the purpose of adjudicating upon claims for compensation.

An application for compensation shall be moved by the person, who has sustained the injury, or where death has resulted, by the legal representatives of the deceased passenger, or by an agent duly authorised by the person injured or the legal representatives of the deceased passenger, as the case may be.

Every application shall be made to the CT having jurisdiction over the area in which the accident resulting in the death or injury, as the case may be, of the passenger, and shall be in such form and shall contain such particulars as may be prescribed.

No application for compensation shall be entertained unless it is accompanied by such fee as may be prescribed and is made within 90 days of the accident provided that the CT may entertain an application after the expiry of the said ninety days, if it is satisfied that the applicant was prevented by sufficient cause from making the request in time.

Where the CT receives information from any source that an accident giving rise to a claim for compensation has occurred within its jurisdiction, it may, after such inquiry as it may deem proper, inform the passenger injured in the accident or the legal representatives of the passenger, who has died as a result of the accident, that it is open to him or them to make an application for compensation under the law and may give him or them, as the case may be, such other information as it may think fit.

Upon receiving an application for compensation, the CT shall hold an inquiry into the claim, giving an opportunity to the parties of being heard, and pass an order determining, in accordance with the provisions of the law, the amount of compensation payable, and specifying the person or persons to whom the compensation shall be paid.

In the holding of an inquiry, the CT shall, subject to any rules that may be made in this behalf by government, follow such summary procedure as it thinks fit.

Published in Dawn, November 20th, 2017