\ i4 - 4‘02a4i. W HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR 7 DMSION BENCH CORAM: HON’BLE SHRI RAJEEV GUPTA, CJ. HON’BLE SHRI SUNIL KUMAR SINHA, J. Misc.AQQeal No.1331 of 2005 1. Smt. Asha Tiwari, Wd/o. Late Pramod Tiwari, aged about 31 years. 2. Akansha Tiwari, D/o. Late Pramod Tiwari, aged about 11 years. 3. Aditya Kumar Tiwari, s/o. Late Pramod Tiwari, aged about 11 yeare. Appellants 1 and 2 minor through mother Smt. Asha Tiwari. 4. Smt. Bhagwati Bai, wd/o. Late Dhani Ram, aged about 61 years. Both r/o. Kapildhara Colony Mines, Qr.No. M.Q. 64, Ward No.7, District Shahdol, M.P. AQQeIIants (Ciaimants) VERSUS 1. Ram Awadh s/o. Ramnaresh r/o. Chandandih, Amanaka, Raipur, Tah. & District Raipur, CG (Driver). Resgondents Non—appiicants Ramnaresh s/o. Bhiruram, r/o. Chandandih, Amanaka, Tah. & ‘ District Raipur, C.G. 3. The Oriental lnsurance‘ Company Limited through Branch Manager, The Oriental Insurance Company imited, T.P. Nagar, District Korba (CG) (insurer). g MEMORANDUM OF APPEAL UNDER SECTION 173 OF THE MOTOR VEHICLES ACT L Present: Shri R.S. Patel, counsel for the appellants. Shri Sudhlr Agrawal and Shri P. Dutta, coun‘sel for respondent No.3. ORDER (11m April, 201'1) The fQllowing order of the Court was passed by Rajeev Gupta, C.J. This is claimants’ appeal for enhancement of the compensation awarded by the Additional Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Korba (for short ‘the Tribunal’) vide award dated 02.08.2005, passed in Claim Case No.35/2004. 2) As against the compensation of Rs.49,60,000/— claimed by the appellants/ claimants, unfortunate widow, minor children and mother of deceased Pramod Tiwari, by tiling a claim petition under Section 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act, for his death in the motor accident on 18.07.2003, the Tribunal awarded a total sum of» Rs.7,64,540/— as compensation along with interest @ 9% per annum from the date of filing of the claim petition till the date of actual payment. 3) The Tribunal on a close scrutiny of the entire evidence led before it held’that deceased Pramod Tiwari died on aCCount of the injuries sustained by himin the motor accident on 18.07.2003; the accident occurred due to rash and negligent driving ofathe driver of the offending vehicle Truck bearing registration No.CG-O4G/2216; as the above offending vehicle Truck on the date of the accident t was insured with the Oriental Insurance Company Limited and the Insurance Company could not establish any breach of the policy conditions, the Insurance Company was liable to pay compensation to the claimants. 4) As the respondents have not tiled any appeal against the award, the above findings recorded by the Tribunal have now attained finality. 5) The Tribunal assessed the income of the deceased at Rs.6,167/— per month and Rs.74,004/— per annum. By deducting 1/3” of Rs.74,004/— towards the personal expenses of the deceased, the claimants’ dependency was assessed at Rs.49,336/— per annum. By multiplying the annual dependency of Rs.49,336/— with the multiplier of 15, the compensation was worked out to Rs.7,40,040/—. By awarding further sum of4Rs.24,500/— under other heads, the Tribunal awarded a total sum of Rs.7,64,540/— as compensation to the claimants for the death of deceased Pramod Tiwari in the motor accident. The Tribunal further directed payment of interest on the above amount of compensation of Rs.7,64,540/— @ 9% per annum from the date of filing of the claim petition till the date of actual payment. 6) Shri R.S. Patel, learned counsel for the appellants submitted that the Tribunal has erred in. assessing the income of the deceased at Rs.6,167l— per mon‘th by taking into consideration only his basic salary and ignoring the dearness allowance which he was t getting regularly; and in awarding low compensation of Rs.7,64,540/— only. 7) Shri Sudhir Agrawal and Shri P. Dutta, learned counsel for respondent No.3, the Oriental insurance Company Limited, the insurer of the offending vehicle Truck, on the other hand, contended that the Tribunal has awarded excessive sum of Rs.7,64,540/-. 8) Respondent No.3 — The Oriental insurance Company Limited, filed the cross-objections in the appeal along with an application for condonation of the delay in filing the cross— objections. As permission under Section 170 of the Motor Vehicles Act was neither obtained by the Insurance Company nor granted by the Tribunal to contest the claim on all available defences, the cross-objections were dismissed following the dictum of the Apex Court in the case of National insurance Co. Ltd. Vs. Nicolletta Rohtagi and others, reported in 2003 (3) T.A.C. 293 (SC), vide order dated 11.04.201 1. 9) Now we shall examine as to whether the compensation of Rs.7,64,540/- awarded by the Tribunal is just and proper compensation in the facts and circumstances of the present case. 10) Deceased Pramod Tiwari was working as Driver in South Eastern Coalfields Limited. The Tribunal has assessed the income of~the deceased at Rs.6,167/— per month on the basis of his salary slip Ex.D/1. The salary slip Ex.D/1 no doubt reveals the basic salary of the deceased at Rs.6,167/— per month, but in addition it MO _ r/i i i also mentions that he was getting dearness allowance of Rs.3,305/— every month. The Tribunal apparently has fallen into error in not taking into consideration the above amount of Rs.3,305l— which the deceased was getting every month as dearness allowance. We, therefore, propose to recompute the compensation taking the income of the deceased at Rs.6,167/* + Rs.3,305/— = Rs.9,472l-, which for the sake of convenience is rounded off to Rs.9,000/— per month. 11) By deducting the usual 1/3r" of Rs.9,000/— towards the personal expenses of the deceased, the claimants’ dependency is assessed at Rs.6,000/— per month and Rs.72,000/— per annum. 12) Considering that deceased Pramod ”Tiwari, according to the evidence of his widow Smt. Asha Tiwari, was aged about 40-42 years, on the date of the accident, in our opinion, multiplier of 14 would be appropriate in the present case, in view of the dictum of the Apex Court in the case of Sarla Verma (Smt) and Others Versus Delhi Transport Corporation and another, reported in (2009) 6 SCC 121., wherein multiplier of 14 has been prescribed for the age group between 41-45 years. 13) By multiplying the annual dependency of Rs.72,000/— with the multiplier of 14 the compensation works out to‘Rs.10,08:000/-. The claimants are further entitled to receive Rs.5,000l— towards funeral expenses; Rs.5,000/— for loss of estate; and Rs.5,000/; for loss of consortium to the widow. The claimants, thus, become entitled to w re'ceivera total sum of Rs.10,23,000/— as compensation for the death of deceased Pramod Tiwari in the motor accident. 14) For the foregoing reasons, the appeal filed by the appellants/ claimants for enhancement of the compensation is allowed in part. The compensation of Rs.7,64,540/— awarded by the Tribunal is enhanced to Rs.10,23,000/—. The enhanced amount of compensation of Rs.2,58,460/— shall carry interest @ 6% per annum from the date of filing of the claim petition till the date of actual payment. 15) Respondent No.3 the Oriental Insurance Company Limited is granted three months’ time for depositing the total su-m of Rs.2,58,460/— along with interest due thereon @ 6% per annum from ‘the date of filing of the claim petition till the date of actual payment, before-the concerning Claims Tribunal. subbu l 1 16) No order as to costs. Sdl- : ‘ i ; ; é Sd/‘ . S”n“ Kumar Sinha . . Chtef Justlce: Judge l