r^y^ BEFORE THE HON'BLE HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGA AT BILASPUR M.A.tC) No. /2008 rSSm®Jar»SR?£nsi ^^iiysi ^^ji^ ^ APPELLANT DEF&NDANT N0.2 -^ IFFCO- TOKIO GENERAL INSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED, through the Branch Manager, Iffco- ,Jf- Tokio General Insurance Co.Ltd, ^ \..^y 3.rd .FI?°L ?45-3i7'. La'9arl9a Shopping Mal, G.E Road Raipur (CG) ^^ ^ \- ^%. y ,/ RESPONDENTN0.1 ^lLAIMANT N0. 1 RESPONDENT N0.2 Ot^AIMANT N0. 2 RESPONDENT N0.3 DEFENDANT N0. 1 VERSUS ^l- •^-'' Nemlal S/o Late Tesu Ram Sinha, Aged about 44 years. Resident of Village - Birgaon, Near Budhwari Bazar, Raipyr ^2,^- Smt. Nirmala Sinha Wife of Nemlal Sinha , Aged about 42 years Resident of Village - Birgaon, Near Budhwari Bazar, Raipur 3. Pardeshi @ Purshuttam Sahu S/o Bholaram Sahu, Aged About 26 years, Resident of House No. 55, Village Bargaon , Thana - Dongargaon, Distt. Rajnandgaon,(C.G.) (Owner and Driver of Maruti Van having registration no. CG 07 ZD 5969) MISCELLANEOUS APPEAL UNDER SECTION 173 OF THE MOTORVEHICLE ACT. 1988 1 HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARHAT BILASPUR M.A.C. No. 336/2008 APPELLANT IFFCO- TOKIO INSURANCE LIMITED GENERAL COMPANY Versus RESPONDENTS NEMLAL AND OTHERS DB:- HON'BLE SHRI I.M. QUDDUSI & HON'BLE SHRI N.K. AGARWALLJJ PRESENT:- Shri Yashwant Singh Thakur, Advocate, for the appellant. Shri Amiyakant Tiwari, Adv. for the respondents No. 1 85 2. None for other respondent No. 3. ORAL ORDER (2-12-2010) Per I.M. Quddusi, J. 1. This appeal has been filed by the appellant/Insurance Company against the award dated 7-12-2007 passed by the XIth Additional Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Raipur in Claim Case No. 43/2007 on the ground of liability and quantum. 2. Facts of the case in brief are that on 13-2-2007 at about 19.15 hrs. Laxminarayan (since deceased) along with his friend Dashrath Chandrakar was going on his motorcycle bearing registration No. CG-06-C-5168 from Dongargarh, Rajnandgaon to his village Beergaon, Raipur. Near Forest Barrier, Rajnandgaon inain road, driver/owner of the Maruti van bearing registration No. CG-07-ZG-5969 driving the vehicle in a rash and negligent manner, dashed the motorcycle as a result of which, Laxminarayan sustained injuries and died during treatment. The claimants who are mother and father of the deceased, filed ' a claim petition under Sectionl66 of fhe Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (briefly 'the Act') claiming Rs. 16,90,000/- as cpnlpensati.on for the death of the deceased. / A,ir^~i ~\ •'V Learned Tribunal awarded Rs. 7,40,OOO/- to the claunants as compensation as against the owner and insurer jointly and severally. Learned counsel for the appellant submitted that the motor vehicle Maruti Van was carrying passengers but there is no evidence that the deceased was sitting as a passenger, rather he was driving the inotorcycle at the time of accident. Therefore, in the absence of any evidence, this contention fails. However, with regard to quantum, we fee that monthly inconie of the deceased assessed by Tribunal as Rs. 6,000/- per month is excessive. Though the claimants tried to prove that earlier the deceased who was driving auto rikshaw was getting Rs. 200/- per day, but we think that assessing the income of the deceased at the rate of Rs. 4,000/- per month would be adequate in the absence of any cogent and clinching reasons. The Tribunal has also coinmitted prror in deducting only l/3rd towards personal expenses. The deceased was a bachelor aged about 20 years, therefore towards his personal expenses, 50% income should have been deducted. Therefore after deducting '50% from his monthly income, the amount comes to Rs. 2,000/- per month towards loss of dependency i.e. Rs. 24,000/- per annum. The age of the parents was 44 and 42 years, therefore, in view of the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Sarla Vernia (Sint.) and others -v- Delhi Transport Corporation and another reported in (2009) 6 SCC 121, appropriate mT.iltiplier between the age of 40 to 45 years, would be 14. By applying the multiplier of 14, the amount would come to Rs. 3,36,000/- towards loss of dependency. Besides this, the parents are also entitled to Rs. 10,000/- ea.ch for love and affection, Rs. 10,000/- for loss of estate and Rs. 5,GOO/- for funeralexpenses. Thus on other heads, the claimants are entitled Rs. 35,000/-. Thus the claimants are entitled for Rs. 3,71,000/- as amount of compensation ^v^ ,,^-k -^ 1 f^s^, ^•-y^t**' 7, along with interest at the rate of 6% per annum from the date of application till its recoveiy in place of Rs. 7,40,000/- as awarded by the Tribunal. In view of the above, the appeal is allowed in part. The impugned award is modified to the extent that the claimants are entitled to Rs. 3,71,000/- as compensation along with interest at the rate of 6% per annum from the date of application till its payment. Rest of 'the conditions given in the award shall remain intact. Sd/- I-M.Quddusi Judge Sd/- N.KAgarwaI Judge ^