Sachdeva Rice Mills And Ors. vs Smt. Raj Anand And Ors. on 5 August, 2002
This aspect could be examined from another angle also. Appellant 1/widow of the deceased had the right in law to obtain maintenance from the deceased during his lifetime. Hence, her right to obtain maintenance subsisted as on the date of death of the deceased. As the widow had no source of income on her own and as the deceased had the statutory duty to maintain her and the widow had the statutory right to obtain maintenance from her deceased husband, we see no legal impediment to treat her as a 'dependent' and also as a 'legal representative' of the deceased within the meaning of Section 166(1)(c) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, for purposes of assessing compensation in a motor accident claim proceeding under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, We also find support to our aforesaid view from a judgment of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in Sachdeva Rice Mills and Ors. v. Raj Anand and Ors., 1987ACJ 821(Pand H). The following observations made therein require to be noticed: