HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT DIVISION BENCH CORAM: HON’BLE SHRI RAJEEV GUPTA, CJ. HON’BLE SHRI N.K. AGARWAL, J. Misc; Appeal No. 792 of 2004. Appellant Smt. Sita Bai Gajbhiye widow of Anil Claimant Kumar Gajbhiye occupation house V . wife, r/o village Shankar Pur near Ice Factory Rajnandgaon, Tahsil and distt. RajnandgaO’n. VERSUS Respondents 1. Vaishnav Das Bairagi s/o Ganga Non-applicants Das Bairagi, aged about 24 years, occupation Truck Driver r/o village Mohala Post Mohla Tahsrl & Distt Rajnandgaon 2. Sanjay Khandelwal occupation Truck Owner; R/o village Rengakathera Police Station, Mohla, Tahsil and distt. Rajnandgaon. 3. The Oriental Insurance Company Limited, through Divisional Manager, Divisional omce, Kamthi Line, Rajnandgaon. MEMORANDUM OF APPEAL UNDER SECTION 173 OF THE MOTOR VEHICLES ACT Present: Shri A.L. Singraul, counsel for the appellant. None for the respondents. bRDER (03rd May, 201 1) The following order of the Court was passed by Rajeev Gupta, C.J. BILASPUR ” Appenant/ Claimant Smt. Sita Bai Gajbhiye is seeking enhancement of the compensation awarded by the Motor Accident Ciaims Tribunal, Rajnandgaon (for short ‘the Tribunal’) vide award dated 17.02.2004, passed in Motor Claim Case No.187/2002. 2) l As against the compensation of Rs.27,20,000/— claimed by the appejllant/ claimant, unfortunate widow of deceased Anil Kumar Gajbhiye, by filing a claim pétition under Section 166 of the Motor VehiCies Act for his death in the motor accident on 16.05.2002, the Tribunal awarded a total sum of Rs.2,09,800/— as compensation along with interest @ 6% per annum from the date of filing of the claim petition till the date of actual payment. 3) Shri A.L. Singraul, learned counsel for the appellant vehemently argued that the Tribunal has erred in awarding low compensation of Rs.2,09,800/— only. 4) 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 a case. It should neither be a meager amount of compensation, nor a Bonanza. 5) Now we shall examine as to whether the compensation of Rs.2,09,800/— awarded by the Tribunal is just and proper compensation in the facts and\circumstances of the present case. 6) True, the claimant pleaded that her husband deceased Anil Kumar Gajbhiye used to earn Rs.3,000/— per month as Coolie and was travelling in the said capacity in the Metador at the time of the accident, the contents of the documents filed before the Tribunat by the claimant herself indicate to the contra that in the iii-fated Metador as many as 45 persons including the deceased were travelling for some ceremony. it is, thus, apparent that the deceased was a gratuitous passenger/ fare paying passenger in a goods vehicle. 7) l As the evidence led by the claimant about the income of the t ‘ " deceased was not of clinching nature, we do not find any infirmity in the assessment of the income of the deceased by the Tribunal at Rs.2,000l- per morith and Rs.24,000/— per annum. 8) The Tribunal has deducted only 1/3rd of the income of the deceased towards his personal expenses and has selected the multiplier of 13 while assessing the compensation payable to the claimant at Rs.2,09,800/-. 9) Even if the submission of learned counsel for the appellant in regard to the multiplier is accepted and a higher multiplier of 15-16 is selected and the deduction towards the personal expenses is made to the extent of 50% as there were only two persons dependent on the income of the deceased i.e. the deceased himself and the sole claimant in the case, his wife Smt. Sita Bai Gajbhiye, the total compensation ultimately would remain the same, which has been awarded by the Tribunal. ‘vs 10) For the foregoing reasons, we do not find any scope for enhancement of the compensation awarded by the Tribunal. FI-I-P"‘T"‘M‘x 11) The appeal filed by the appellant] claimant for enhancement of the compensation, therefore, is Iiable to be dismissed and is hereby dismissed. t 12) i No order as to costs. Sdl- i Sdl- N. K. Agarwal Chief Justice; Judge