,lt \1 HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR D1V1SJONBENCH CORAM: HON'BLE SHRI RAJEEV GUPTA, C.J. HON'BLE SHRI RANGNATH CHANDRAKAR, J Appellants Claimants Misc Appeal (Cl No. 1408 of 2009 1 Smt. Kekti Bai W/o Late Ravi Deshmukh, Aged about 35 years. 2 Uttam Deshmukh S/o Late Ravi Deshmukh, Aged about 17 years. 3 Domendra Kumar S/o Late Ravi Deshmukh, Aged about 14 years. 4 Om Prakash S/o Late Ravi Deshmukh, \ Aged about 11 years. Appeltant 2 to 4 are minor and through natural guardian mother Smt. Kekti Bai W/o Late Ravi Deshmukh. All are R/o Village Anjora (Dhaba), Post Nagpura, P.S. -Bori, Distt. Durg (C.G.) VERSUS •l ^- Respondents Non-Applicants Claimant 1. Rajendra Kumar Lodhi S/o Shri Gond Singh Lodhi, Aged about 25 years, R/o Village Litiya, P.S.-Bori, Distt. Durg (C.G.) 2. Pawan Kumar Tamrakar S/o Shri Krishna Kumar Tamrakar, R/o Tamer Para Durg, Distt. Durg (C.G.) 3. The Divisional Manager, The Oriental Insurance Company, Ltd., Parmanand Building, G.E. Road, Durg, Distt. Durg (C.G.) 4. Rajo Bai W/o Late Samaru Deshmukh, Aged about 68 years, R/o Village Anjora (Dhaba), Post-Nagpura, P.8.- Bori, Distt. Durg(C.G.) €'3\ I '"^^^ ^ cy v(h MACNo.1408 of 2009 Miscellaneous Appeal under Section 173 of Motor Vehicles Act t- Present : Shri AP Sharma, counsel for the appellants. Shri Vijay Sahu, counsel for respondents No.1 and 2. Shri Manish Upadhyay, counsel on behalf of Shri KN Chaturvedi, counsel for respondent No.3. ORDER (01st August,2011) The following order of the Court was passed by Rajeev Gupta, CJ. This is claimants' appeal for enhancement of the compensation awarded by the 11th Additional Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Durg (for short 'the Tribunal') vide award dated 30.06.2009, passed in Claim Case No.35/2008. 2) As against the compensation of Rs.27,03,000/-, claimed by the appellants/claimants, unfortunate widow, minor sons and mother of deceased Ravi Dehmukh, by filing a claim petition under Section 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act, for his death in the motor accident on 26.02.2008, the Tribunal awarded a total sum of Rs.6,31,728/- 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 held the Oriental Insurance Company Limited, the insurer of the offending vehicle Minibus bearing registration w^^f^^'^. ^^s^^-[\ ;^.rp^;<^^^l^^¥^p5@^^^ ^ MACNo.1408 of 2009 NO.CG-07-ZA/0250 liable to pay the compensation to the claimants. 4) As the insurer of the offending vehicle Minibus has not filed any appeal challenging the above finding recorded by the Tribunal, the same, now has attained finality. 5) The Tribunal assessed the income of the deceased at Rs.56,600/- per annum. By deducting 1/3rdof Rs.56,600/- towards the personal expenses of the deceased, the claimants' dependency was assessed at Rs.37,733/- per annum. By mult>plying the annual dependency of Rs.37,733/- with the multiplier of 16, the compensation was worked out to Rs.6,03,728/-. By awarding further sum of Rs.28,000/- under other heads, the Tribunal awarded a total sum of Rs.6,31,728/- as compensation to the ctaimants for the death of deceased Ravi Deshmukh in the motor acddent. The Tribunal further djrected payment of interest on the above amount of compensation of Rs.6,31,728/- @ 8% per annum from the date of filing of the claim petition till the date of actual payment. 6) Shri AP Sharma, learned counsel for the appellant vehemently argued that the Tribunal has erred in assessing the income of the deceased at Rs.56,600/- per annum onty; and in awarding low compensation of Rs.6,31 ,7287- only. 7) Shri Manish Upadhyay, learned counsel appearing on behalf of Shri KN Chaturvedi, learned counsel for respondent No.3, the Oriental Insurance Company Limited, the insurer of the offending vehicle Minibus on the other handcontended that the Tribunal has wri'' -•VS^^^^t^ ^%^.; ..:^;,^;.^^^7^^^.^^.»'e!^,.i»^^^^ss^iy^^ ••^^...^..•••-'..:--—•''• • iN~ ^' ^6 MACNo.1408 of 2009 liberally awarded excessive sum of Rs.6,31,728/- as compensation to the claimants. 8) Shri Vijay Sahu, learned counsel for respondents No.1 and 2 Rajendra Kumar Lodhi and Pawan Kumar Tamrakar, the driver and owner ofthe offending vehicle Minibus also supported the award. 9) In a motor accident claim case what is important is that the compensation to be awarded by the Courts / Tribunals should be just and proper compensation in the facts and circumstances of the case. It should neither be a meager amount of compensation, nor a bonanza. 10) Now, we shall examine as to whether the compensation of Rs.6,31,728/~ awarded by the Tribunal is just and proper compensation in the facts andcircumstances of the present case. 11) Deceased Ravi Deshmukh was aged about 38 years on the date of the accident. He was a Hamal byoccupation. The claimants pteaded that deceased Ravi Deshmukh used to earn Rs.300/- per day as Hamal. 12) Consldering that the occupation of the deceased as Hamal was not of such nature that he would be getting work daily, we do not find any infirmity in the assessment of the income of the deceased by the Tribunal at Rs.56,600/- per annum, which comes to Rs.5,000/- per month. 13) The claimants' dependency also has been rightly assessed by the Tribunal by deducting the usual 1/3rd of the income of the deceased towards his personal expenses. "^^•^^S^^^'SK.^^^^^^^ . _ y^r^y^^^- ) -/ MACNo.1408 of 2009 ^l 14) The multiplier of 16 selected by the Tribunal is rather on the higher side as deceased Ravi Deshmukh was aged about 38 years on the date of the accident and the dictum of the Apex Court prescribes multiplier of 15 in the age group between 36-40 years. 15) For the foregoing reasons, we do not find any scope for enhancement of the compensation awarded by the Tribunat either on account of the assessment of the income of the deceased, or the claimants' dependency by the Tribunal or the multiplier selected. 16) The appeal filed by the appellants/claimants for enhancement of the compensation, therefore, is liable to be dismissed and is hereby dismissed. 17) Np^rder as to costs. Sd/- ChiefJustice Sd/- R.N. Chandrakar Judge padma ^^.^mi^m^^^^^^^^