CORAM: HON’BLE SHRI SUNIL KUMAR SINHA & HON’BLE SHRI RANGNATH CHANDRAKAR J J. Misc. Appeal No. 1256 of 2004 PPELLANTS Smt. Rajmani Verma, aged about 28 Claimants years, w/o. Late Fagu Ram Verma. Tuleshwar Verma, S/o. Late Shri Fagu Ram Verma, aged about 3 years. Ganeshwar Verma, S/o. Late Fagu Ram Verma. Both Minor through natural guardian mother Smt. Rajmani Verma w/o. Late Shri Fagu Ram Verma. All r/o. village — Litiya, Thana — Lalbagh, Tahsil and Distt. Rajnandgaon (CG). Versus Nitin Sharma, aged about 28 years, s/o. Bhagwat Prasad Sharma, r/o. Bajrangpur Nawagaon, Tah. & Distt. Rajnandgaon. RESPONDENTs Non-Applicants. (Driver) Anil Kumar Sahu, aged about 25 years, S/o. Shri Lalit Kumar Sahu, r/o. Ward No.3 Chikli, Tah. & Distt. Rajnandgaon (CG). (Owner) (insurer) New India insurance Company Ltd., through Branch Manager, B/Lanch Office, Kamptee Line, Rajnandgaon. (Appeal under Section 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988) Present: Mr. Anand Shukia, Advocate for the appellants. Mr. Prasanjit Dutta, Advocate for respondent No.3/New India lnsuranCe Company Ltd., ORDER (20.11.2010) @ A “ @ Following order of the Court was passed by SunilKumar inha,J. A The appellants/clai‘mants, unfortunate widow and minor children of the deceased Fagu Ram Verma have filed this appeal for enhancement of compensation awarded in Claim Case No; 79/2002 by the Motor Accident Ciaims Tribunai, (for short, “the Tribunal") Rajnandgaon, vide award dated 10-092004. The appellants/ciaimants filed a claim petition under Section 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 claiming compensation of Rs. 32,45,000l— for death of Fagu Ram Verma in motor accident, which took place on 29.11.2001. The appellants/claimants pleaded wasearning Rs.5,000l— per month. They'examined Rajmani Bai ‘ that the deceased was running a Kirana shop in the village and ' (AW/1) and Raj Kumar Verma (AW/3) in support'of their above contention. The Tribunal did not rely on the‘evidence of above two ‘ Witnesses regarding income of the deceased. The Tribunal, on its own, held that the deceased must be earning Rs.1 ,250/- per month from the said Kirana shop. Therefore, the Tribunal determined the annual income of the deceased as Rs.15,000/—. By deducting.1/3 towards the personal expenses of the deceased, the dependency of the appellants was worked out to Rs. 10,_000/- penannum. By applying multiplier Vof-13 to Rs.10,000/—, the compensation was ' worked out to Rs. 1,30,000/—. By awarding a further sum of Rs.10,000/- under other heads, the Tribunal awarded a total sum of Ra.1,40,000/— as compensation'to the appellants/claimants for the Av \W S ath of deceased — Fagu Ram V'erma in the motor accident on 9-1 1-2001. The Tribunal also awarded interest @ 6% per annum from the date of filing of the claim petition till the date of actual payment. Mr. Anand Shukla, learned counsel appearing for the appeilants, argues that the income of the deceased has not been properly assessed by the Tribunal and a low compensation has been awarded to the appellants/claimants n the other hand, Mr. Prasanjit Dutta, learned counsel appearing for respondent .No.3/New India Insurance Company Ltd., opposes these arguments and supports the award passed by the Tribunal. e have heard learned counsel for the parties at length'and also perused the records of the claim case. The appellants/claimants contended that the deceased was running a Kirana shop in the village and was earning Rs.5,000/- per month. To support their contention they have examined Rajmani Bai (AW/1) and Raj Kumar Verma (AW/3). These two witnesses have deposed that the deceased was running a Kirana shop and as earning Rs.500/— — Rs.600/— per day. Except the oral evidence of these two Witnesses no other eVIdence was led to prove such ncome of the deceased and even there was no documentary evidence to prove that in—fact deceased was running a Kirana shop. However, the Tribunal on oral testimonies of these two witnesses held that the deceased was running a Kirana shop but the Kirana shop was in a small village, therefore, an earning of Rs.5000/— de 2 O W w i By deducting 1/3 towards the personal expenses of the deceased from Rs.24,000/-, the dependency of the appellants/c!aimants would come to Rs./16,000/- per annum. The Tribunal has applied multiplier of 13 inethis matter. Looking to the entire facts and circumstances of the case, particularly looking to the age of the deceased (35 years), his widow (28 years) as also the children, we deem it appropriate to apply multiplier of 14 in this matter. By applying multiplier of 14 to the annual dependency of Rs.16,000I—, the compensation works out to Rs. 2,24,000/—. By adding a further sum of Rs. 15,000/— under other permissible heads, the total amount of compensation works out to Rs. 2,39,000/—. The appellants/claimants are thus. entitled to receive a total sum of Rs.2,39,000/— as compensation on account of death of deceased ® would not have been possible. Thus, in these circumstances, the Tribunal held that the deceased must be earning Rs.1,250/— from I the said shop. For determining the income of the deceased as Rs.1250/—, per month in—fact, there is no basis. Therefore, We do‘ not approve such finding of the Tribunal about the income of the deceased. Admittedly, the deceased was 'aged about 35 years. Even if we take that the deceased would have worked as labour, then he would have certainly earned in average Rs.2000/- pe'r month and Rs.24,000/— per year in the year 2001 in the small village in which the deceased was residing along with his family members. We, therefore, propose to re—compute the compensation by taking the income of the deceased as Rs. 2,000/— per month and Rs.24,000/— per annum. g: L @ Fagu Ram Verma in the motor accident. The Tribunal has already awarded Rs. 1,40,000/—. By deducting Rs. 1,40,000/— from Rs. 2,39,000/—, the difference comes to Rs.99,000/-‘ The appellants/daimants are thus entitled to receive a sum of Rs. 99,000/— as enhanced amount of compensation for the death of deceased- Fagu Ram Verma in the motor accident. To avoid further complications and lookingto the delay caused in L disposal of the claim petition as also the claimants’ appeal and that the Insurance Company alone cannot be blamed for such delay, we deem it appropriate to quantify the interest, which we quantify as Rs.9,000l— in this matter. 9. Therefore, the appellants/claimants are entitled to receive a sum of Rs;1,08,000/— (Rs.99,000/— as the enhanced 'amount of compensation and Rs. 9,000/— as the amount of quantified interest on the enhanced amount) which they shall receive from New India insurance Company Ltd., New lndia insurance Company Ltd/respondent No.3 is granted 3 months time to deposit this amount before the concerned Claims Tribunal. Accordingly, the appeal is partly allowed‘to the extent indicated above. No order-as to costs. / /‘ z War / Sd/- u 91/ Sunil Kumar Sinha ,lx J“ '.R.N,Chandrakat . L Judge ‘ g7 ‘ Judge it / ‘ ‘ l J yr " “’TW 3* ”4» 1;. , ,. W . y}, i \ V C Raju ‘ l