imiBirin'iuat-uu.a.- !!jy«iui?3« ^ H16H COURT OF CHHArriSOARH AT KU^f^lR DIVBION BENCH CORAM: HON'SLE SHRI T.P. SHARMA & W)N'a£SHR8 RANGNATH CHANaRAKAR.JJ. ^l MANo. 629 Of 2004 »y ApDeilants Ctaimants 1) Smt. Anite Nand, widow of late l-l O. Nand, aged 37 years. 2) Animesh Nand (IWnor) s/o. Late H.D. Nand, aged 10 years. 3) Ku. Harehita Nand (Minor) d/o. !ate H.D. Nand, aged 8 years. Respondents Versus 1. Wrendra @ Virender, s/o. Ramnareyan tehatri, ^ed 45 years , r/o. Shiv Nagar, Roomgarh; BALCO. 2 K.K. Agrawat, s/o. Phoalrara Agrawat @ M.0. Agrawal, r/o. Transport Nagar, Opposite Vijaya Taikies, Korba (CG). 3. The Nattonal Insurance Company of tndia Ltd., through the Branch at Minu Complex, Maln Road, Kosabadi, Kortea, District Korba (C8$. Aooeal under Sectton 173 of the Mator Vehicte Act. 1988 Present Mr. Indrasen Sahu, cbunsel for the appeltants. None for responderts No.1 and 2. Mr. Raj Awasthy, counsel fer respondent No.3. ORDER (Passedon 17th Septemher, Per Rananath Chandrakar. J. ^ •i •-'•t ^" ;^ •:,J •"" .f ""^. .,,':"^ ' :t;,.::msa^. s ^s^ jf 2 1. Thjs is claimants' appeal for enhancement of trte compensatjon awarded by Addittonal Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Korba (for short, "the Tnbunal") vide award dated 23-2-2004 passed in ctaim caseNo. 125 of 2004. 2. The appellants/claimants, unfortunate vAlow and children of deceased H.D. Nand, clalmed compensation of Rs. S2,26,0a)/ flling a ctaim petltion under Sectton 166of the Mofor Vehteles for his death in the motor accident on 12-06-2003. 3. The Tribunal on a close scrutiny of the entire evidence ted before it held that deceased H.D. Nand died on account of the injuries sustained by him in the motor accident on 12-06-2003; the accident occurred due to rash and negligent dnving of the driver of the offending vehicte Tmck bearing registration No. CG-12 ZC 1781 ; as the offending vehicie Truck, on the date of the sccident was insured with the national Insurance Company Llmited, the Insurance Company was liabte to pay compensatton te the claimants. 4. The Tribunal assessed the income of the dec^sed at Rs. 1,26.000/- per annum. By deducfing 1/3rd of Rs. 1,28.000/- towards pereonat expenses of the decessed, the claimants' depaidency Was assessed at Rs. 84,(XW- per annum. By multiplying the annual dependency of Rs.84,000/- with the multiplier of 12, the compensation was worked out to Rs.10,08,000/-. By awarding further sum of Rs.23,000/- under other heads, the Tribimal awarded a total sum of Rs.10,28,000/- as compensatiCTi to the \ claimants for the death of deceased H.D. Nand in the motor 11^"''''''"''''T^' '':-\^;;<t. 3 ^^ ^?'wi£ 9. accident. The Trlbunal further dtrected payment of interest on the above amount of compensation of Rs.10,28,(XX)/- @ 9% per annum from the date of fllmg of the cteim petition tlll the date of actuat payment. Mr. Indrasen Sahu; learned counsel appearing for the appetlants submlts that the Tribunal has commltted illegatlty by apptying multiplier of 12 ofthe SecondSchedule of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 whereas as per the flndings of the Claims Trtbunal, the deceased H D. Nand was aged 39 years at the time of his death, therefore, the multiplier of 16 ougM to have been applied to ascertain the compensation. Per contra, Mr. Raj Awasthy, learned counsel appearing for respondent No.3 - Nationat Insurance Company Limited, supported the award passed by the Tribunal. We have heard leamed counsel for the parties, perused the impugned award and record ofthe Tribunal. In a motor accident claim case, wrtiat Is important is that, the compensatton to be awarded by the Courte/Tribunal should be just and proper compensation in the faots and cireumstances of the case. tt shouid neither be a meager amount of compensation, nor a Bonanza. After going through the record and considering the aae of the deceased, the multiptier of 12seiected by the Tnbunat, in our, opinion is not appropriate and in view of the dictum of the Apex Court in the case of Sarta Verma (Snrt) and others vs. Delhi TransportCorporation and another, reported In (2009) 6 SCC 1 \M *Nn[|'! S3SSKS3) '"3<i( tar 4 l/ 121 wherein multiplier of 15 was prescribed for the age group between 36-40 years and in the present case, the age of the deceased determined by the Tribunal was 39 years, 3 nronths and 15 days at the time of his death, multiplter of 15 is an appropriate. 10. By multlplying She annual dependency of Rs.84,(»0/- with the multiplier of 15, the compensation worte out to Rs. 12,60,000^-. The appeltants/claimants have alr^dy been awarded Rs.10;000/- towards funeral expenses and Rs.10,000/- towards ^oss of love and affectlon. Thus, the claimants become entitted to receive a sum of Rs. 12,80,000/- as compensation for the death of deceased H.D. Nand in the motor accident. 11. Learned counsel appearlng Tor the partles submtt that wfth a view to avoid any possible dispute between the parties about the peripd for whteh the clatmants are entitled to reeelve tnterast on the enhanced amount of compensation, the amount of interest on the enhanced amount of compensation may be quartified tn this appeal ttself. 12. Considering alt the retevant faetore, we quantify the amount of interest on the enhanced amount of compensation of Rs.12,80,000/-at Rs.15,000/-. 13. For the foregoing discusston, the appea! filed by the appeltants /claimants for enhancement of the compensation is atlowed in part. The compensation of Rs.10,28,OCX)/- awarded by the Tribunal is enhanced to Rs.12,95,(XX}/- with further quantifled amount of interest of Rs.15.000/- on the enhanced amount of Gompensation ofRs.12,60,000/-. L. 14. .Respondent No.3 - National Insurance Company Itd., te granted three months' time for depositing the total sum of Rs 2,67,000/- (Rs. 2,52,000/- towards enhanced amount of compensatton + Rs.15,0)0/- towards quantifled amount of interest on the enhaneed amount of compensation of Rs.2,52,000/-) before the conceming Claims Tribunal. 15. No order as to costs Sd/- T.P. Sharma Judge Sd/- R.N. Chandrakar Judge Rati .».i.-lT!3 :NJtNr}