HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR DIVISION BENCH CORAM: HON'BLE SHRI RAJEEV GUPTA, C.J. & HON'BLE SHRI RANGNATH CHANDRAKAR, J. Appellants Misc. Appeal (0 No. 903 of 2008 1 Smt Anisha Ali, Aged 26 years, W/o Late Mohd Hasim Ali 2 Ku Aaiysha Saiyda, aged 03 years, minor D/o Late Mohd Hasim Ali 3 Ku Roshni, Aged 1 Month minor D/o Late Mohd Hasim Ali 4 Smt Kesar Jaha, Aged 50 years, W/o Late Anwar Ali On behalf of Minor Appellants No.2 & 3 legal guardian mother Smt Anisha Ali Appelalnt No.1, All are resident of behind Hotel Mayura Bastal Near Bidi Factory Raipur Tahsil & Dibtrict Raipur (CG) VERSUS 1 Nesri Lal Goutam, S/o Babul Lal Goutam Occupation Truck Driver, R/o MP Madras Roadways Tantibandh, Raipur Tahsil & District Raipur (CG) 2 Shrawan Kumar Sharma, S/o JR Sharma, R/o MP Madras Roadways Tantibandh, Raipur Tahsil & District Raipur (CG) 3 The National Insurance company Ltd., through Divisional Manager, Divisional Office, Mobin Mahal, GE Road, Raipur, Distt Raipur (CG) ADDeal underSection 173 of the Motor Vehicle Act Respondents \_ •i-^s'sw ,/^ -'.( ..•\ ^ ^ws'^^,\ ^ 1 v!s^s^ j t ,. J / '^.^,-fgf(t ^ Present: Shri Shiv Kumar Guha, counsel for the appellants. None for respondents No.1 and 2, Shri Sreekumar Agrawal, Senior Counsel and Shri Anand Gupta, counsel for respondent No.3. ORDER (23rd 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 11 Additional Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Raipur (for short 'the Tribunal') vide award dated 31.07.2007, passed in Claim Case No.84/2006. 2) As against the compensation of Rs.40,50,000/- claimed by the appellants/ claimants, unfortunate widow,minor daughters and mother of deceased Mohd Hasim Ali by filing a claim petition under Section 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act, for his death in the motor accident on 10.03.2005, the Tribunal awarded a total sum of. Rs.4,46,500/- 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 Mohd Hasim Ali died on account of the injuries sustained by him in the motor accident on 10.03.2005; the accident occurred due to rash and negligent driving of the driver of the offending vehicle Truck bearing ^'v-. Y ViSSmtf .» -'°•? '<>.' '^ •>-' registration No.C.G.-04/ZC/6272; as the above offending vehicle Truck on the date of the accident was insured with the National 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) The Tribunal assessed the income of the deceased at rd Rs.3,000/- per month.'Rs.36,000/- per annum. By deducting 1/3" of Rs.36,000/- towards the personal expenses of the deceased, the claimants' dependency was assessed at Rs.24,000/- per annum. By multiplying the annual dependency of Rs.24,000/- with the multiplier of 18, the compensation was worked out to Rs.4,32,000/-. By awarding further sum of Rs.14,500/- under other heads, the Tribunal awarded a total sum of Rs.4,46,500/- as compensation to the claimants for the death of deceased Mohd Hasim Ali in the motor accident. The Tribunal further directed payment of interest on the above amount of compensation of Rs.4,46,500/- @ 9% per annum from the date of filing of the claim petition till the date of actual payment. 5) Shri Shiv Kumar Guha, learned counsel for the appellants vehemently argued that the Tribunal has erred in not accepting the claimants' evidence about the income of the deceased and in assessing his income at Rs.3,000/- per month; and in awarding low compensation of Rs.4,46,500/- only. 6) Shri Sreekumar Agrawal, learned Senior Counsel and Shri Anand Gupta, learned counsel for respondent No.3 the National Insurance Company Limited, the insurer ofthe offending 1 4 vehicle Truck on the other hand, contended that the compensation of Rs.4,46,500/- awarded by the Tribunal cannot be termed as inadequate so as to warrant enhancement in this appeal. 7) True, the claimantspleaded that deceased Mohd Hasim Ali used toearn Rs.5,000/- per month and Rs.2,000/- as commission by workingin a private concern, namely Parwani Sales Corporation, no cogent and reliableevidence was led before the Tribunal to establish the income of the deceased to the above extent. We, therefore, do not find any infirmity in the assessment of the deceased by the Tribunal at Rs.3,000/- per month and Rs.36,000/- per annum. 8) The claimants' dependency also has been rightly assessed by the Tribunal by deducting the usual 1/3 of the income of the deceased towards his personal expenses. 9) The claimants cannot have any legitimate grievance about the selection of multiplier of 18 by the Tribunal as the same is the highest multiplier prescribed in the Second Schedule under Section 163-A of the Motor Vehicles Act. 10) For the foregoing reasons, we do not find any scope for enhancement of the compensation awarded by the Tribunal either on account of the assessment of the income of the deceased or the daimants' dependency by the Tribunal or the multiplier selected. N'. 11) The appeal filed by the appellants/ daimants for enhancement of the compensation, therefore, is liable to be dismissed and is hereby dismissed. 12) No order as to costs. Sd/- . Chief Justice N. Ch Judge padma ^