^ HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BiLASPUR DIVISION BENCH CORAM: HON'BLE SHRI RAJEEV GUPTA, C.J. HON'BLE SHRI RANGNATH CHANDRAKAR, J Misc. Appeal (C) No.697 of 2008 Claimants :x 1. Smt Ram Bai, aged 29 years, Vtf/o late Shri Ghurau Singh 2. Master Ramand aged about 10 years, S/o late Shri Ghurau Singh 3. Ku beena aged about 6 years, D/o late Shri Ghurau Singh 4. Ku Reena aged about 3 years, D/o late Shrl Ghurau Singh Appellants No.2 to 4 are minor through their legal guardian Smt Ram Bai, W/o late Shri Ghurau Singh All are R/o Mungadih, PO Pali, Distt Korba (CG) c 1. Laxmi Razak, S/o Panchram, R/o Village - Bandhwapara, Sarkanda Bilaspur Distt Bilaspur (CG) (Driver of the vehicle) 2. Smt Shashi Singh, W/o Omprakash Singh, R/o Yadunandan Nagar, Bilaspur Distt Biiaspur (CG) 3. The New India Insurance Company Limited, through the Division Manager, Divisional Office TP Nagar, Korba Distt Korba (CG) s:.'^ Miscellaneous Appeal under Section 173 of Motor Vehicles Act 'V A '"%»- &~ .T-1 Present : Shri PKTulsyan, counselforthe appellants. Shri Ashok Patl^counsel for respondents No.1 and 2. Shri Deepak Gupta, counsel for respondent No.3. ORDER •th (15"June,2011) The following order of the Court was passed by Rajeev Gupta, C.J. This is claimants' appeal for enhancement of the compensation awarded by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Korba, (for short 'the Tribunal') vide award dated 25.11.2006, passed in Claim Case No.42/2005. 2) As against the compensation of Rs.22,95,000/-, claimed by the appellants/claimants, unfortunate widow and minor children of deceased Ghurau Singh, by filing a claim petition under Section 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act, for his death in the motor accident on 07.07.2005, the Tribunal awarded a total sum of Rs.3,50,500/- as compensation along with interest @ 6% 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 he!d that deceased Ghurau Singh died on account of the injuries sustained by him in the motor accident on 07.07.2005; the accident occurred due to rash and negligent driving of the driver of the offending vehicle truck bearing registration No.CG-IOA/8111; as the above offending vehicle truck, on the date of the accident, was insured with the New India Insurance Company Limited, and the Insurance Company could not establish ^'.. k li:a .^lA~"<;& ^?,/-s% ^ ^ ^^^^^ ^ s8 s ^yy ...i .*••» \ any breach of the policy conditions, the Insurance Companywas liable to pay compensation to the claimants. 4) As the respondents have not filed 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.100/- per day; Rs.2,500/'- per month assuming that he was getting work only for 25 days in a month and Rs.30,000/- per annum. By deducting 1/3 of Rs.30,000/- towards the personal expenses of the deceased, the claimants' dependency was assessed at Rs.20,000/- per annum. By muitiplying the annual dependency of Rs.20,000/- with the multiplier of 17, the compensation was worked out to Rs.3,40,000/-. By awarding further sum of Rs.10,500/- under other heads, the Tribunal awarded a total sum of Rs.3,50,500/- as compensation to the claimants for the death of deceased Ghurau Singh in the motor accident. The Tribunal further directed payment of interest on the above amount of compensation of Rs.3,50,500/- @ 6% per annum from the date of filing of the claim petition til! the date of actual payment. 6) Shri PK Tulsyan, learned counsel for the appellants submitted that the Tribunal 'has erred in not accepting the claimants' evidence about the income of the deceased and in assessing his income at Rs.2,500/- per month and Rs.30,000/- per annum only; and in awarding low compensation of Rs.3,50,500/- only. \, .s»-s"!""»%^' ••..•''"../'-^ "^ ^ ./''"'%, ^, ^s... \ S 's^sfBi% --^.^; \s- .: ~^,s-": ";s*-- . •.. 4 x 7) Shri Deepak Gupta, learned counsel for respondent No.3, the New India Insurance Company Limited, the insurer of the offending vehicle truck on the other hand supported the award and contended that the compensation of Rs.3,50,500/- awarded by the Tribunai is just and proper compensation in the facts and circumstances of the present case. 8) True, the claimants pleaded that deceased Ghurau Singh used to earn Rs.9,000/- per month as contractor working with the Forest Department, no cogent and reliable evidence was led before the Tribunal the estabiish the income of the deceased to the extent of Rs.9,000/- per month. We, therefore, do not flnd any fault in the approach of the Tribunal in discarding the claimants' evldence about the income of the deceased. 9) From para 23 of the award we gather that the Tribunal assessed the income of the deceased at Rs.100/- per day. But strangely, while assessing monthly income, it was reduced to Rs.2,500/- from Rs.3,000/- wfth an analogy that he was getting work only for 25 days in a month. As the deceased was a Contractor and not a labour, there is no| justification in assessing the monthly income of the deceased on the basis of 25 days in a month. The Tribunal, therefore, ought to have assessed the income of the deceased at'Rs.3,000/- per month and Rs.36,000/- per annum. 10) We, therefore, propose to recompute the compensation taking the income of the deceased at Rs.3,000/- per month and Rs.36,QOO/-perannum. \— !\~. "2Kys. "^. '<- ./• L^- .'••I .\ 11) By deducting the usual 1/3rd of Rs.36,000/- towards the personal expenses of the deceased, the claimants' dependency is assessed at Rs.24,000/- per annum. Considering that deceased Ghurau Singh was shown to be 31 years of age in his postmortem report, the appropriate multiplier would be 16 in view of the dictum of the Apex Court in the case of Saria Verma (Smt) and others Versus Deihi Transport Corporation and another reported in (2009) 6 Supreme Court Cases 121, which prescribes multiplier of 16 for the age group between 31 -35 years. 12) By multiplying the annual dependency of Rs.24,000/- with the multiplier of 16, the compensation works out to Rs.3,84,000/-. The claimants are further entitled to receive Rs.5,000/- for 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 receive a totat sum of Rs.3,99,000/- as compensatlon for the death of deceased Ghurau Singh in the motor accident. 13) Learned counset for the parties submitted that with a view to avoid any possible dispute between the parties about the period for which the claimants are entitled to receive interest on the enhanced amount of compensation, the amount of interest on the enhanced amount of compensation may be quantified in this appeal itself. 14) Considering all the relevant aspects of the matter including the delay in disposal ofthe claim petition and the present appeal and the fact that the Insurance Company alone Is not to be blamed for the entire delay in the matter, we quantify the amount of interest X »\- :-':^ '•••-•^ .•:.,,j. 6 on the enhanced amount of compensation of Rs.48,500/- at Rs.6,500/-. 15) For the foregoing reasons, the appeal filed by the appellants/ claimants for enhancement of the compensation is allowed in part. The compensation of Rs.3,50,500/- awarded by the Tribunal is enhanced to Rs.3,99,000/- with further quantified amount of interest of Rs.6,500/- on the enhanced amount of compensation of Rs.48,500/-. 16) Respondent No.3 the New India Insurance Company Limited is granted three months' time for depositing the total sum of Rs.55,000/- (Rs.48,500/- towards enhanced amount of compensation + Rs.6,500/- towards quantified amount of interest on the enhanced amount of compensation of Rs.48,500/-) before the concerning Claims Tribunal. 17) No order as to costs. Sd/- Chief Justice Sd/- R.N. Chandrakar Judge padma ;\x '\'