IN THE HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND AT NAINITAL Appeal From Order No. 478 of 2007 Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation … Appellant Vs Smt. Deepa Karwal & others … Respondents Sri Ramji Srivastava, learned counsel for the appellant Sri Lalit Sharma, learned counsel for the respondents/claimants Hon’ble B.C. Kandpal, J. This appeal under Section 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 has been filed by the appellant against the judgment and award dated 20.07.2007 passed by Motor Accident Claims Tribunal/Additional District Judge, Roorkee, District Haridwar in Motor Accident Claim Petition No. 142 of 2003, Smt. Deepa Karwal & others. 2. Brief facts of the case are that on 29.08.2003, Lalit Karwal (deceased) was going from Roorkee to Haldwani by driving Hero Honda Motorcycle No. UP11J/7543 on the left side of the road. At about 04:00 p.m., when he reached near Shanidev Mandir and Dabha of Kishan Lal within the area of Village Jawalapur, District Haridwar, suddenly, a bus bearing registration No. UP15B/8712, which was being driven by its driver in a very rash and negligent manner, hit the said motorcycle. In the said accident, both the occupants of the motorcycle sustained serious injuries and Lalit Karwal succumbed to injuries. According to the claim petition, the deceased was 32 years of age and used to earn Rs. 10,000/- per month by running repairing shop of Radio, TV etc. Hence, an amount of Rs. 15.00 was claimed as compensation. 2 3. Thereafter notices were issued to the opposite parties. On the receipt of the notices, the opposite parties contested the claim petition by filing their separate written statement before the Tribunal. On the basis of the pleadings of the parties, the Tribunal has framed relevant issues in the claim petition. Thereafter, both the parties led evidence in support of their cases. 4. After hearing learned counsel for the parties and perusing the entire material available on record, the Tribunal decreed the claim petition for a sum of Rs. 6,27,000/- along with interest @ 7% per annum from the date of filing the claim petition till the date of actual payment vide judgment and award dated 20.07.2007. 5. Feeling aggrieved by the aforesaid judgment and award, the appellant/UPSRTC has preferred this appeal before this Court. 6. Heard Sri Ramji Srivastava, learned counsel for the appellant, Sri Lalit Sharma, learned counsel for the respondents/claimants and perused the record. 7. As far as the factum of accident is concerned, the finding recorded by the Tribunal that the accident took place on account of rash and negligent driving of the driver of the offending bus is concerned, that appears to be completely justified and I am in total agreement with the findings recorded by the Tribunal in this regard. 8. As far as the amount of compensation to be awarded in favour of the claimants is concerned, the Tribunal while deciding issue No. 5 has dealt with this point but the 3 approach adopted by the Tribunal appears to be wrong. The Tribunal has assessed the monthly income of the deceased as Rs. 4,500/- per month without any plausible evidence available on record. The claimant has mentioned in the claim petition that the deceased was working as a TV repair mechanic and having his own shop thereby earning Rs. 10,000/- per month. Davendra Kumar Saini (P.W.3) was also produced before Court who has stated that he knew Lalit Karwal who learned the TV repairing work in his shop for seven years, thereafter, he opened his own shop. He has also stated that the deceased used to earn Rs. 10,000/- per month from the work of the TV repairing. The deposition of Smt. Deepa Karwal, who has stated that her husband used to earn Rs. 10,000/- per month is absolutely without any basis. The deceased was neither a income tax payer not has filed any evidence before the Tribunal in order to show that what was the actual income of the deceased from the job. I fail to understand, how Davendra Kumar Saini with whom the deceased learned the TV repairing work for seven years could know the actual income of the deceased as Rs. 10,000/- per month. He has not given any evidence pertaining to the income of the deceased. Smt. Deepa Karwal/wife of the deceased has stated that the shop in which the TV repairing work was being performed by the deceased was taken on rent, but she has also neither filed any receipt with regard to the rent of the shop in question nor know who was the owner of the shop. She has also stated that she could not file any bill pertaining to the repair of the TV. Therefore, on the basis of these evidence, I do not find any justification that the trial court could reach to its finding pertaining to the income of the deceased of the deceased as Rs. 4,500/- per month in fact there is no evidence available on record before the Tribunal 4 which may suggest that the deceased was actually earning a sum of Rs. 4,500/- per month from TV repair work. 9. The accident in this case occurred on 29.08.2003 and in the absence of any actual income of the deceased the notional income is to be taken into account and in the year 2003 the notional income of the deceased could be taken into account as Rs. 30,000/- per annum. After deducting 1/3rd towards personal expenses of the deceased, the financial dependency of the claimants thus comes to Rs. 20,000/- per annum. The age of the deceased at the time of the accident was 32 years approximately. The Tribunal further fell in error in adopting the multiplier of ‘17’ in this case, in view of the several judgments of the Hon’ble Apex Court in The New India Assurance Company Ltd. Vs Smt. Kalpana & others reported in (2007) 2 Supreme Court Cases (Cri) 94, T.N. State Transport Corporation Vs S. Rajapriya & others reported in (2005) 6 SCC 276 and The Managing Director, TNSTC Vs Sripriya & others reported in 2007 (5) Supreme 301. Considering the age of the deceased as well as in view of the Hon’ble Apex Court, the multiplier cannot travel more than ‘14’ in any manner in the instant case. After applying the multiplier of ‘14’, the total amount of compensation to be awarded in favour of the claimants comes to Rs. 2,80,000/- (20000 X 14). The amount of Rs. 15,000/- awarded by the Tribunal under different heads shall remain intact. Thus, the claimants are entitled to get the total amount of compensation as Rs. 2,95,000/- along with interest as indicated in the impugned judgment and award. 10. As far as the apportionment of the award in favour of the claimants is concerned, the same shall be given, as under:- 5 1. Km. Madhur Karwal (minor) D/o deceased Rs. 75,000/-, which shall be kept in the form of fixed deposit with some nationalized bank till she attain the age of majority. 2. Smt. Rani Devi and Sri Rajendra Karwal (parents of the deceased) shall get Rs. 40,000/- each out of the total awarded amount. 3. Smt. Deepa Karwal – wife of the deceased shall get the rest of the amount. 11. The statutory amount deposited by the appellant before this Court at the time of filing the appeal be remitted to the Tribunal concerned. (B.C. Kandpal, J.) 06.07.2009 ASWAL