Claiming under the Public Liability Insurance Act

In one line

The Collector publicises the accident, hears the claims summarily, and awards relief within three months, and the money comes partly from the insurer and partly from the Environmental Relief Fund.

In the wording a student can write in an exam: on an accident coming to his notice the Collector must verify it and publicise it under section 5; an application for relief may be made under section 6 by the injured person, the owner of the damaged property or the legal representatives of the deceased, within five years of the accident; the Collector holds a summary inquiry under section 7 with the powers of a civil court and makes an award of such relief as appears to him to be just, to be deposited by the insurer, by the Relief Fund and by the owner in the shares the section prescribes; and the relief is in addition to any other right, subject to a set off.

Verification and publicity: section 5

Whenever it comes to the notice of the Collector that an accident has occurred at any place within his jurisdiction, he shall verify the occurrence of such accident and cause publicity to be given in such manner as he deems fit for inviting applications under section 6(1).

The section reverses the ordinary position. In litigation the claimant finds the forum. Here the forum finds the claimants, because after a gas leak or a chemical spill the injured are many, poor and unlikely to know that a statute exists.

Who may apply, and by when: section 6

Sub-section (1). An application may be made:

(a) by the person who has sustained the injury;

(b) by the owner of the property to which the damage has been caused;

(c) where death has resulted, by all or any of the legal representatives of the deceased; or

(d) by any agent duly authorised by such person, such owner or all or any of the legal representatives.

The proviso mirrors section 166(1) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. Where all the legal representatives have not joined, the application shall be made on behalf of or for the benefit of all of them, and those who have not joined shall be impleaded as respondents.

Sub-section (2). Every application shall be made to the Collector, in the prescribed form, with the prescribed particulars and documents.

Sub-section (3), the limitation. No application shall be entertained unless it is made within five years of the occurrence of the accident.

Five years is generous and deliberately so. The injury from a chemical exposure may appear long after the leak, and the contrast with the six months now allowed by section 166(3) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, is a point an examiner will reward.