5Liability in case of death

(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Fatal Accidents Act, 1855 (13 of 1855) or any other enactment or rule of law in force in any part of India, the rules contained in ¹[the First Schedule, the Second Schedule and the Third Schedule] shall, in all cases to which those rules apply, determine the liability of a carrier in respect of the death of a passenger.

(2) The liability shall be enforceable for the benefit of such of the members of the passengers family as sustained damage by reason of his death.

Explanation.-- In this sub-section, the expression member of a family means wife or husband, parent, step-parent, grand-parent, brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister, child, step-child and grandchild:

Provided that in deducing any such relationship as aforesaid any illegitimate person and any adopted person shall be treated or being, or as having been, the legitimate child of his mother and reputed father or, as the case may be, of his adopters.

(3) An action to enforce the liability may be brought by the personal representative of the passenger or by any person for whose benefit the liability is under sub-section (2) enforceable, but only one action shall be brought in India in respect of the death of any one passenger, and every such action by whomsoever brought shall be for the benefit of all such persons so entitled as aforesaid as either are domiciled in India or not being domiciled there express a desire to take the benefit of the action.

(4) Subject to the provisions of sub-section (5), the amount recovered in any such action, after deducting any costs not recovered from the defendant, shall be divided between the persons entitled in such proportion as the Court may direct.

(5) The Court before which any such action is brought may, at any stage of the proceedings, make any such order as appears to the Court to be just and equitable in view of the provisions of ²[the First Schedule or of the Second Schedule or the Third Schedule], as the case may be, limiting the liability of a carrier and of any proceedings which have been or are likely to be commenced outside India in respect of the death of the passenger in question.