THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE R. KANTHA RAO CIVIL MISCELLANEOUS APPEAL No.1825 of 2000 DATE:27.11.2009 Between: Dadi Satyanarayana and another … Appellants And Lakkalapudi Balaji and others … Respondents THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE R. KANTHA RAO CIVIL MISCELLANEOUS APPEAL No.1825 of 2000 JUDGMENT: This appeal is filed by the appellants-claimants against the order and decree passed by the Motor Vehicle Accidents Claims Tribunal-cum-District Judge, East Godavari at Rajahmundry in M.V.O.P.No.332 of 1993. The claimants filed a petition before the Tribunal below under Section 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 for compensation of Rs.1,00,000/- on account of the death of their father by name Subbarao in a motor vehicle accident. Against the said claim, the Tribunal awarded an amount of Rs.33,500/- with interest at 12% p.a. from the date of the petition till the date of payment, holding respondents 1 to 3 jointly and severally liable to pay the compensation. The appellants-claimants challenged the award, in so far as it relates to the quantum of compensation, on the ground that it is not just and reasonable. Admittedly, the deceased was aged 46 years on the date of his death. He was said to be an agriculturist having two acres of land and also a milk vendor and thereby he used to earn Rs.2,000/- per month. However, the learned Tribunal, holding that there is no documentary evidence in proof of the income of the deceased, took his income at Rs.750/- per month considering him as only an agricultural labourer. In my view, even if the deceased is considered to be an agricultural labourer, the learned Tribunal ought to have fixed his income at Rs.1,200/- per month, and accordingly, in this appeal his income is fixed at Rs.1,200/- per month and the annual income would be Rs.14,400/-. Out of this amount, 1/3rd has to be deducted towards personal and living expenses of the deceased which comes to Rs.4,800/- and the contribution to the family comes to Rs.9,600/-. The relevant multiplier as per the judgment rendered by the Apex Court in “Sarla Verma and others Vs. Delhi transport Corporation and another”[1] is “13”. To arrive at the total loss of dependency, the annual dependency has to be capatilized with “13” which comes to Rs.1,24,800/-. In addition to this, the appellants-claimants are entitled to Rs.5,000/- towards funeral expenses and Rs.5,000/- towards loss of estate. Therefore, the appellants- claimants are entitled to the total compensation of Rs.1,34,800/-. The appellants-claimants being sons of the deceased shall share the amount of compensation equally. The amount of compensation enhanced shall bear the interest at 6% p.a. from the date of petition till the date of payment. Before parting with the appeal, this Court wishes to state that the above referred judgment of the Apex Court applies to the cases relating to the motor vehicles accidents which occurred even prior to introducing the II Schedule of Section 163-A of the M.V.Act, 1988. This Court further wishes to mention that the amount of compensation need not be restricted to the amount claimed in the claim petition, but it can be over and above the claim made in the claim petition. In the result, the civil miscellaneous appeal is allowed. There shall be no order as to costs. ______________​_ R. KANTHA RAO, J 27th November, 2009 CBS HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE R. KANTHA RAO C.M.A.No. 1825 of 2000 (Allowed) 27th November, 2009 CBS [1] 2009 (2) L.S. 29 (S.C)