Claim petition is maintainable before the Claims Tribunal within whose local limits the defendant resides.

The appellants are the legal representatives of the deceased, Abdul Salam, who died in a motor vehicle accident on September 10, 2015, at Janjgir-Champa

They filed a claim for compensation under Section 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, before the Additional Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Katghora, Korba

The Tribunal dismissed the application on November 28, 2019, ruling that it lacked territorial jurisdiction

The appellants challenged this dismissal, asserting that Respondent No. 2 (Jahid Khan), the owner of the vehicle, resides in Kusmunda, District Korba, as evidenced by Annexure A-2, which should confer jurisdiction upon the Korba Tribunal

Whether the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal at Korba has territorial jurisdiction to entertain the claim application under Section 166(2) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, based on the residence of the defendant

The Court primarily applied Section 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. Specifically, Section 166(2) provides that an application for compensation may be filed, at the option of the claimant, in the Claims Tribunal having jurisdiction over the area where: (a) the accident occurred; (b) the claimant resides or carries on business; or (c) the defendant resides

The Court scrutinized the statutory options provided under Section 166(2) regarding the forum conveniens for motor accident claims

It observed that the law grants claimants the choice to file a petition where any of the defendants reside

In the present case, while the accident occurred outside Korba, the record (Annexure A-2) established that the vehicle owner (Jahid Khan/Respondent No. 2) resides at Kusmunda within District Korba

The High Court found that the Tribunal’s dismissal for lack of jurisdiction ignored this factual residence of the defendant, rendering the lower court’s finding perverse and legally unsustainable under the clear mandate of Section 166(2)

The Court held that the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Korba, possesses the requisite jurisdiction because the defendant resides within its local limits

The matter was remitted to the Tribunal for a decision on the merits

Given that the accident occurred in 2015, the Court directed the Tribunal to decide the claim application within four months from the date of receipt of the order and instructed the parties to appear before the Tribunal on April 13, 2026