^:^-^^. //^ ^\ j ^. ^.^J. -2^- ^. HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR DIVISION BENCH CORAM: HON'BLE SHRI RAJEEV GUPTA, C.J. & HON'BLE SHRI RANGNATH CHANDRAKAR, J. Misc. Appeal (0 No. 1114 of 2010 Appellants Applicants Respondents Non-applicants Tara Patel, w/o late Dinesh Kumar Chandel, aged 38 years, occupation house wife. Kumari Jyoti Patel, d/o late Dinesh Kumar Chandel, aged 12 years, occupation student. Bijendra Patel, s/o late Dinesh Kumar Chandel, aged 8 years, occupation student. Appellant No. 2 and 3 minors through natural guardian mother Tara Patel w/o late Dinesh Kumar Chandel, All resident of village Lodhi Tahsil Wadrafnagar, district Surguja C.G. VERSUS Reliance General Insurance Company Office Bhilai through Branch Office Ravibhawan Vidhan Sabha Road, Pandari, Raipur C.G. Gulab Chandra Vaishya, s/o Chhedilal Vaishya, r/o. B-7 Vijay Complex Camp No.2, Bhilai Power House, Durg C.G. (Vehicle Owner) Shivkant Mishra, s/o Jeevan Lal Mishra, r/o Village Ba?uhar, post Saray Akeel, district Kausambhi U.P. through Gulab Chandra Vaishya, s/o Chhedilal Vaishya, r/o. B-7, Vijay Complex Camp No.2, Bhilai Power House, Durg C.G. (Vehicle Owner) .--''a^:-.\ •^•^ ^ MAC.No. 1114 of 2010 ^ Memo of appeal under Section 173 of Motor Vehicle Act Present: Shri H.B. Agrawal, Senior Counsel with Smt. Meera Jaiswal, counsel for the appellants. Shri S.S. Rajput and Ms. Renu Singh, counsel for respondentNo.1. ORDER ^th (06tnSeptember,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 Additional Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Pratappur, district Sarguja (for short 'the Tribunal') vide award dated 24.09.2010, passed in Claim Case No.46/2009. 2) As against the compensation of Rs.16,06,000/- claimed by the appellants/ claimants, unfortunate widow and children of deceased Dinesh Kumar Chandel and mother, sister and brother of other deceased Anand Kumar Chandel, by filing a joint claim petition under Section 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act, for their death in the motor accident on 08.07.2009, the Tribunal awarded a total sum of Rs.4,69,000/- (Rs.3,12,000/- for the death of deceased Dinesh Kumar Chandel + Rs.1,57,000/- for the death of deceased Anand Kumar Chandel) as compensation to the claimants 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 that deceased persons Diensh Kumar Chandel and MAC.No. 1114 of 2010 -zv-1 Anand Kumar Chandel died on account of the injuries sustained by them in the motor accident on 08.07.2009; the accident occurred due to rash and negligent driving of the driver of the offending vehicle Truck bearing registration No.C.G.07/C/0669; as the above offending vehicle Truck on the date of the accident was insured with the Reliance General 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) As the respondents have not filed any appeal against the impugned award, the above findings recorded by the Tribunal, have now attained finality. 5) The Tribunal assessed the notional income of deceased Dinesh Kumar Chandel and Anand Kumar Chandel at Rs.30,000/- each per annum. By deducting 1/3rd of Rs.30,000/- in the case of deceased Dinesh Kumar Chandel and one half in the case of deceased Anand Kumar Chandel, towards their personal expenses, the claimants' dependency was assessed at Rs.20,000/- per annum and Rs.15,000/- per annum, respectively. By multiplying the annual dependency of Rs.20,000/- and Rs.15,000/- with the multiplier of 15 and 10, respectively, the compensation was worked out to Rs.3,00,000/- and Rs.1,50,000/-, respectively. By awarding further sum of Rs.12,000/- and Rs.7,000/-, respectively under other heads, the total sum of Rs.3,12,000/- and Rs.1,57,000/- was awarded to the claimants as compensation for the death of deceased Dinesh M.A.C.No.1114of 2010 ^ Kumar Chandel and Anand Kumar Chandel, respectively. The Tribunal further directed payment of interest on the above amounts of compensation of Rs.3,12,000/- and Rs.1,57,000/- @ 6% per annum from the date of filing of the claim petition till the date of actual payment. 6) Shri H.B. Agrawal, learned Senior Counsel with Smt. Meera Jaiswal, learned counsel for the appellants submitted that the Tribunal has erred in awarding low compensation of Rs.1,57,000/- and Rs.3,12,000/- for the death of deceased Anand Kumar Chandel and Dinesh Kumar Chandel, to the claimants. 7) Shri S.S. Rajput and Ms. Renu Singh, learned counsel for respondent No.1, the Reliance General Insurance Company Limited, the insurer of the offending vehicle Truck, on the other hand, supported the award and contended that the amounts of compensation of Rs.1,57,000/- and Rs.3,12,000/- awarded by the Tribunal to the claimants for the death of Anand Kumar Chandel and Dinesh Kumar Chandel, are just and proper compensation in the facts and circumstances of the present case. 8) 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. 9) So far as the compensation of Rs.1,57,000/- awarded by the Tribunal to the claimants for the death of.deceased Anand Kumar Chandel is concerned, considering that deceased Anand MAC.No. 1114 of 2010 ^fc Kumar Chandel was aged about 13-14 years on the date of the accident; was studying in 9 standard; was not having any independent income of his own, we are satisfied, is just and proper compensation and does not call for any enhancement in this appeal. 10) Now, we shall examine as to whether the compensation of Rs.3,12,000/- awarded by the Tribunal to the claimants for the death of deceased Dinesh Kumar Chandel is just and proper compensation in the facts and circumstances of the present case. 11) True, the claimants pleaded that deceased Dinesh Kumar Chandel used to earn Rs.9,000/- per month from his different types of business, no cogent and reliable evidence was led before the Tribunal for establishing the above business of deceased Dinesh Kumar Chandel and his income to the extent of Rs.9,000/- per month. We, therefore, do not find any fault in the approach of the Tribunal in discarding the claimants' evidence about the income ofthe deceased. 12) Nevertheless, the income of the deceased assessed by the Tribunal at Rs.30,000/- per annum in the year 2009 is somewhat on the lower side and requires reconsideration. 13) Considering that deceased Dinesh Kumar Chandel was aged about 40 years on the date of the accident, we are of the opinion that he could have easily earned Rs. 1007- per day and Rs.3,000/- per month even by working as an unskilled labour, in the year 2009. We, therefore, propose to re-compute the ^ M.A.C.No.1114of 2010 compensation taking the income of the deceased at Rs.3,000/- per month and Rs.36,000/- per annum. 14) 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. 15) The multiplier of 15 selected by the Tribunal considering that deceased Dinesh Kumar Chandel was aged about 40 years on the date of the accident, in our opinion, is appropriate in view of the dictum of the Apex Court in the case of Sarla Verma (Smt) and Others Versus Delhi Transport Corporation and another, reported in (2009) 6 SCC 121 wherein multiplier of 15 has been prescribed for the age group between 36-40 years. 16) By multiplying the annual dependency of Rs.24,000/- with the multiplier of 15 the compensation works out to Rs.3,60,000/-. The claimants are further entitled to receive Rs.5,000/- towards 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 total sum of Rs.3,75,000/- as compensation for the death of deceased Dinesh Kumar Chandel in the motor accident. 17) The claimants are further awarded a sum of Rs.7,000/- towards quantified amount of interest on the enhanced amount of compensation of Rs.63,000/-. 18) For the foregoihg reasons, the appeal filed by the appellants/ claimants for enhancement of the compensation is allowed in part. While maintaining the amount of compensation of .-^.-.^.;:\.:....^^^iil&fe& M.A.C.No.1114of 2010 •^ Rs. 1,57,0007- awarded by the Tribunal for the death of deceased Anand Kumar Chandel, the compensation of Rs.3,12,0007- awarded by the Tribunal for the death of Dinesh Kumar Chandel is enhanced to Rs.3,75,000/- with further quantified amount of interest of Rs.7,000/- on the enhanced amount of compensation of Rs.63,000/-. 19) Respondent No.1 the Reliance General Insurance Company Limited is granted three months' time for depositing the total sum of Rs.70,000/- (Rs.63,000/- towards enhanced amount of compensation + Rs.7,000/- towards quantified amount of interest on the enhanced amount of compensation of Rs.63,000/-) before the concerning Claims Tribunal. 20) No order as to costs. ^.., subbu Sd/- Chief Justice Sd/- R.N. Chandrakar Judge