<;y '•^.._..y "^s-^^^^ DiyiS)ON_BENCH CJ. SUISISL J. Apoircspis ^i^Ui'lcllH^ iVlisc, No. 384 of 1. OriSai, S/o Late Mannu La! Jangde, aged about 50 yrs 2. Chagan La!, S/o Naresh Kumar Jangde, aged about 18 yrs. 3. Chandan Kumar, S/o Naresh Kumar Jangde, aged about 8 yrs 4. Mohjt Kumar, S/o Naresh Kumar Jangde, aged about 5 yrs 5. K.u Chandrakala, D/o Naresh Kumar Jangde, sbout 3 yrs 6. Ku Nikkl, D/o ?\3aresh Kumar Jangde; about 2 1/z yrs 7. Ku PinRi; D/o Naresh Kumar Jangde, about 1 yr. 8. sSmt Shipra Bai, W7'o Ua.ts Naresh Kumar Jangde, aged 33 yrs. 9. Smt Aswani Bai, W/o Late Naresh Kumar Jangde, aged 33 yrs, R/o PO & PS Somani, Rajnandgaon Appeliants No.1 to 8 are R/o Pandit, Ravlshankar Shukla Unlverslty, Ralpur i^Ui 1-sipMii^ai il^ Omveer, S/o RamChsndra Rana; R/o Jindal Coiony, Mandir Hasod, PO Mandi Ha.sod, Distt Raipur Pradeep Kumar, S/o Mahendra Singh, C/o h/1/s Jlndai Steel & Povv'er Umlted, Mandlr Hasod, PO MartSlir Hasod. i . f; '—$." 3. The Oriental insurance Co. Ltd., ThrougS'i Dlvisionai Manager, Divisionai Office, Kuttcheri Chowk, Jaii Road, Ralpur(CG) IVIIsc. AppeaE under Seetion 173 of MoforVehicles Act Present: Shri S.C. Verma, counsel for the appeiiants. None for respondents No.1 and 2. Shri Sudhir Agrawai, counsel for respondent No.3. (e?tn October, The foiiowing order of the Court was passed by Raleev Gupta, CJ. Thls Is ciaimants' appea! for enhancement of the compensation awarded by the Sixth Additionai M.otor Accident Cialms Tribunai.. Raipur (for short "the Tribunal"), vlde award dated 05 02.2003, psssed. In CJaJm Case No.05/2002. 2) As.against the compensatlon of Rs.20,85,000/- daimed by the appejiants/ clajmants, unfortunate father, children and two wldows of deceased Naresh Kumar Jangde, by fiiing a cjaim petjtlon under Section 166 of the Motor Vehicies Act; for his death in the motor acddent on 16.11.2001, the Tribuns! awarded a tota! sum of Rs.5,45,792/- as compensation aiong with interest @ 9% per annum from the date of filsng of the claim petition ti!i the date of actual payment. 3) The Tribunal on a close scrutlny of the entlre evidence led before It held that deceased Naresh Kumar Jangde died on ^^ w^ c ac-count of the Imuries sustalned by hlm In the motor accident on 16.11.2001; the ac-cldent occurred due to rash and negiiaent clnvlng of the driver of the offending vehicle Tata Sumo, bearing registration NQ.M.P.-23LA-0062; as the above offending vehicle Tata Sumo, on the date of the accldent. was insured with the Orienta! Snsurance Company LJmited and the Insurance Company could not establjsh sny breach of the policy condrtions; the Insurance Company was liabie to pay compensation to the clalmants. 4) As the respondents have not filed any appea! against the award, the above tindings recorded by the Tribunai have now attalned flnallty. 6) The TrlDuna! assessed the income of the deceased at Rs.4;264/- per month and Rs.51,168/- per annum. By deducting 1/3ra of Rs.51,168/- towards the persona! expenses of the deceased, the ciaimants' dependency was assessed at Rs.34,112/- per annum. By multiplyjng the annua! dependency of Rs.34,112/- wlth the muitiptler pf 16,the compensation was worked out to R.S.5.45J92/-. The Tribuna!, thus, awarded a total sum of Rs.5,45,792/- as compensatlon to the ciaimants for the dea.th ot' deceased Naresh Kumar Jangde in the motor accident. The Trlbunal further dlrected payment of interest on the above amount of cornpensation ot' Rs.5;45,792/- @ 9% per annum from the date of fiilng of t'ne ciaim petjtlon til! the date of actual payment. /^^ fl. ^ 6) Shri S.C. Verma, iearned counsel for the appeiiants submitted that the Tribunsj has erred in assessing the income of the deceased at Rs.4,264/- per month though he was getting gross sajary of Rs.7,240/- per month; in not awarding any sum towards funeral expenses, ioss of estate, and ioss of consortjum to the wldows: and In awardina iow compensation of Rs.5,45,792/- on!y. 7) Shri Sudhlr Agrawai; iearned counsel for respondent No.3 the Orien^ai Insurance Company LJmited, on, the other hand, contended that the Tribunal has awarded excessive compensation of Rs.5,45,792/- by seiecting the higher multiplier of 16. 8) The claimants pieaded that deceased Naresh Kumar Jangde used to earn Rs.7,240/- per month by working as Clerk in Ravlshankar Shukla University, Raipur. The pay-siip of the (Ex.P/6) produced before the Tribuna! reveals that the deceased was gettjng basic pay of Rs.4,500/- per month and dearness aliowance of Rs.1,935/- per month. !n the pay-siip some other aiiowances, such as, Rs.180/- towards HRA; Rs.75/- towards CAA; Rs.200/- towards CA; and Rs.350/- towards MA have aiso been mentloned. Learned counsei for the appeiiants couid not speli out the nature of these aJiovvances. We, therefore, assess the Income bf the deceased at Rs.6,500/- per month exdudjng the other ailowances, as it is not. apparent from the pay-sllp of the decessed that these amounts were payabie 'every month. We, therefore, propose. to recompute the compensation taking the -^ .-f Income QT the deceased at Rs.6,500/- per month and Rs.78,000/- per annum. 9) By. deduc-ting the usua! 1/3rd of Rs.78,000/- towards the persona! expenses ot the deceased, the claimants' dependency is assessed at Rs..52;000/- per annum. 10) Considenng the age ot' the deceased, his father, his two wldows and chljdren; we are of the opinion that muStlplier of 14 woijld be approprlate in the present case. 11) By muitiplylng the annual dependency of Rs.52,000/- wlth the multlplier of 14, the compensation works out to Rs.7,28,000/". The ciairnants are further entitled to recelve Rs.15,000/- towards funera! expenses: 'oss of estate: and !oss,of consortium to the widows. The ciaimants, thus, become entitled to receive a total sum of Rs.7,4.3.000/- as comDensatlon for the death of deceased Naresh Kumar Jangde in the rnotor accldent. 12) Learned counsei t'or the partles submitted that wrth a view to avoid any pQssible dlspute between the partles about the period for which the claJmants are entltled to, recelve interest on the enhanced arnount of Gompensation, the amount of Interest on the enhanc-ed amount ot' compensation may be quantified In this appeal itseif. 13) Consjdering aii the relevant aspects of the matter, Including the delay In disposaJ of the ciaim petition and the present appeaJ and the fact that insurance Company aione is not to be blamed for the entjre deiay in the matter, we quantify the amount of interest on ?'' the enhanced amount of compensation ot' Rs.1,97,208/- at Rs.22,792/-. 'i 4) For the foregolng reasons; the appeai filed by the appeliants/ clalmants for enhancement of the compensatlon Is a!!owed In part. T'he compensation of Rs.5,45,792/- awarded by the Tribuna! is enhanced to Rs.7,43,000/- wlth f'urther quantit'jed amount of Interest of. Rs.'22,792/- on the enhanced amount of compensatlon of Rs.1,97,208/-. 15) Respondent No 3 the Oriental Insurance Company Limited is granted tnree months' tlme for depositing the total sum of Rs.2,20,000/- (Rs.1,97,208/- towards enhanced amount of compensation + Rs.22/792/- towarris quantlfied amount of Interest on the enhanced amount of compensation) before the concerning Claims Tribunal. 16) No order as to cosis_ Sd/- Chief Justice Sd/- SunH Kumar Sinha Judge .subbu