Delay of 28 years – A claim raised before the M.A.C.T., can be considered to be genuine, so long as it is a live and surviving claim -- It is not as if, it can be open to all and sundry, to approach a the Tribunal, to raise a claim for compensation, at any juncture, after the accident had taken place -- Individual concerned, must approach the Tribunal within a reasonable time -- Question of reasonability would naturally depend on the facts and circumstances of each case -- Delay of 28 years, even without reference to any other fact, cannot be considered as a prima facie reasonable period -- Only justification indicated for initiating proceedings after a lapse of 28 years, that they are poor person and they have no knowledge about the Law and they has not been paid the single pie towards any compensation – Explanation tendered, cannot be accepted -- Instant case, was stale, and ought to have been treated as a dead claim.

(SC) Decided on: 09.02.2017