BEFORE THE HON'BLE HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR AL M.A.(ClNo.^'/0 /2010 yfiiBiyji' i®iiiii;i:t APPELLANT DEFENDANT N0.4 ...^^ ^;^i^ ~vf>"^ RESPONDENTN0.1 CLAIMANT N0. 1 1. IFFCO- TOKIO GENERAL INSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED, through the Branch Manager, Iffco- Tokio General Insurance Co.Ltd, 3rd Floor 345-347, Lalganga Shopping Mal, G.E Road Raipur (CG) VERSUS <( 1. Smt. Mumtaz Begum, W/o Late Sahid Ali Aged about 32 years(wife). RESPONDENT N0.2 CLAIMANTN0.2 2., Saif Ali, S/o Late Sahid Ali, Aged about 11 years.(Minor) RESPONDENT N0.3 CLAIMANT N0. 3 3. > Suhale Ali, S/o Late Sahid Ali, Aged about 07 years.(Minor) (2 and 3 are minors represented through there guardian mother Smt. Mumtaz Begam) All three are R/o Village-SemraJah.- Pendraroad, Dist.-Bilaspur(C.G.). RESPONDENT N0.4 DEFANDANT N0.1 ^) Mukesh Kumar Puri S/o Ramesh Kumar Puri, R/o Village - Pandhi, Seepat, Tahsil and Dist.-Bilaspur (C.G.). ^ RESPONDENT N0.5 DEFANDANT N0.2 5. > Ashoke Kumar Gupta S/o Ramkripal Gupta, Aged about 40 years, Cast- Gupta, R/o Purani Basti Pendra, Tahsil Pendraroad, Dist.-Bilaspur (C.G.). ^sA \.-^-^"L.X.Y;^-. ^txs ^ ^ ^ ^cw ^'^ ^ RESPONDENT N0.6 DEFANDANT N0.3(Dead) AOEt ^: F-^~?BK-<W.-—X••fr^.'<-i»-.1'v'>;-.-.^.--WS.' jP-W23,!£-;-wr-Sti«3 @ 6. | Ashoke Vishwakarma @ Babua, S/o Ramnarayan Vishwakarma, Aged about 43 years (dead) j" MISCELLANEOUS APPEAL UNDER SECTION 173 OF THE MOTOR VEHICLE ACT. 1988 \ HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH : BILASPUR M.A. fONo. 410 of 2010 Appellant Iffco Tokio General Insurance Company Limited Versus Respondents Smt. Mumtaz Begum 85 others APPEAL UNDER SECTION 173 OF THE MOTOR VEHICLES ACT, 1988 DB: Hon'ble Shri I. M. Quddusi 8s Hon'ble Shri Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra, JJ Shri Vikrant Singh, Advocate for the appellant. Shri Yogendra Chaturvredi, Advocate for the respondents No. 1 to 3. None for the respondents No. 4 and 5. ORDER (Oral) ( Passed on this 15th day of March, 2011 ) Per I. M. Quddusi, J. This appeal has been filed by the appellant/Insurance Company on the ground of quantum against the impugned award dated 11th November, 2009/passed by the Additional Motor Accident JClaims Tribunal (FTC), Pendra Road, District - Bilaspur in Claim Case No. 9/2009, awarding a sum ofRs. 6,21,500/-. Learned counsel appearing for the appellant submits that the appellant has got permission under Section 170of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 in the Court below vide order dated 5.11.2009 and the question of quantum is only under challenge in this appeal. We have heard learned counsel appearing for the parties and perused the lower Court record as well as the findings given in the impugned award. •^•; -. 6. 7. Brieffacts, in nutshell, are that on 1.8.2008 at about 12.30 p.m. deceased Sahid Ali was going to his village Semra from Gourela Bu.s Stand by sitting in a auto rikshaw, bearing registration No. C.G. 10 T/0310. At that time due to rash and negligent driving by non-applicant No.3 (Ashok Vishvkarma) the auto in which deceased was sitting collided with another auto. In that accident the deceased received various injuries and during the treatment succumbed to those injuries. The claimants, being widow and two minor children of the deceased, filed a claim case under Section 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 for award of a total compensation of Rs. 19,57,500/- under various heads on the submissions that the deceased was owner of a auto riksha and was earning about Rs. 9000 to 10,000/- per month. Learned Claims Tribunal, having regard to the facts and evidence on record assessed the monthly income of the deceased as Rs. 4500/- and Rs. 54,000/- per year. After making deduction of l/3rd towards personal and living expenses and applying the multiplier of 17 the compensation towards loss of dependency was awarded as Rs. 6,12,000/-. Under the conventional heads the Tribunal awarded Rs. 2000/- towards funeral expenses, Rs. 5000/- towards consortium and Rs. 2500/- towards loss of estate. Thus, the Tribunal awarded a total sum of Rs. 6,21,500/- as compensation to the claimants along with interest at the rate of 6% per annum from the date of the application i.e. 7.11.2008 till the payment is made. Having regard to the facts situation and the evidence on record we are of the opinion that the monthly income of the deceased, who ^.^^ /'^^ "% f ff ........... 1 w • ^•-^\'x^. ^ '"^^^' . -n hl<lt. 8. was a driver and owner of a auto riksha has rightly been assessed by the Tribunal as Rs. 4500/- and the deduction of 1/3rd towards personal and living expenses of the deceased was also correct. However, looking to the age of the deceased as 35 years, according to the decision of Hon?ble Supreme Court in the case of Sarla Verma (Smt) and others Vs. Delhi Transport Corporation and another1 we are of the opinion that the multiplier of 16 should have been applied instead 17. Therefore, according to us the total loss of dependency comes to Rs. 5,76,000/- ( 36,000 x 16). Besides this, in respect of other heads the claimants are is entitled to get Rs. 5000/- towards funeral expenses, Rs. 5,000/- towards loss of estate and Rs. 5,000/- each ( total Rs. 15000) for loss of consortium. Therefore if we add Rs. 25,000/- under other heads, the claimants are entitled to total compensation of Rs. 6,01,OOO/-. In view of the above, we allow this appeal in part and reduce the amount of compensation arid modify the impugned award dated 11th November, 2009 to the above extent. The claimants would be entitled to get Rs. 6,01,000/- along with simple interest @ 6% p.a. from the date of the claim petition till the payment is made. The appeal is allowed in part to the above extent. No order as to costs. Sd/- LM-Quddusi Judge Sd//- Prashant Kumar Mishra Judge Thakur (2009)68cc 121,