IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD PRESENT : : THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE N.V.RAMANA AND THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE P. DURGA PRASAD M.A.C.M.A No.419 of 2008 Dated:04-08-2011 Between: D.Parvathi. ….Appellant. And State Government of Tamilnadu, Rep. by the District Collector, Ramanadhapuram District and another. ….Respondents. The Court made the following: THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE N.V.RAMANA AND THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE P. DURGA PRASAD M.A.C.M.ANo.419 of 2008 ORDER: (per the Hon’ble Sri Justice P.Durga Prasad) This appeal is filed by the claimant in M.V.O.P.No.92 of 2004 for enhancement of compensation awarded by the lower tribunal. The deceased while going to the Mohamed Sathak Engineering College, Kilakkarai, by walk, a police jeep bearing No.TN65/G-0077 driven by its driver in a rash and negligent manner hit the deceased. As a result of which, he sustained grievous injuries and died while undergoing treatment in the hospital. The claimant, who is the mother of the deceased has filed the application claiming compensation of Rs.15,00,000/-The lower tribunal by taking into consideration of the evidence of P.Ws.1 and 2 and Exs.A.1 to A.13 held that the deceased was not an earning member and only studying III year Aeronautical Engineering and fixed his income notionally at Rs.15,000/- P.A., and after deducting 1/3rd towards his personal expenses, arrived the dependency of the claimant at Rs.10,000/- P.A. and by taking into consideration of the age of the mother, applied multiplier ‘16’ and awarded Rs.1,60,000/- towards loss of dependency of the claimant. Apart from that, she was awarded Rs.5,000/- towards funeral expenses, in total, the lower tribunal awarded compensation of Rs.1,65,000/-. The learned counsel for the appellant has contended that in “B.RAMULAMMA AND OTHERS V. M/S VENKATESH BUS UNION, REP. BY A.M. VELU MUDALIYAR, BANGALORE AND ANOTHER[1]”, the Division Bench of this Court has taken into consideration of the earnings of a student, who is studying engineering, at Rs.12,000/- per month and deducting 10% for each year of his education. In the present case, the deceased was studying III year Aeronautical engineering and he is very intelligent and secured good marks in SSLC and H.S.C. and the same is evident from Exs.A.5 to A.11. In the above said decision, the monthly income of the deceased, who is IV year engineering student was taken as Rs.12,000/- per month. In this case, since the deceased is III year student deduction of 10% for one year of his education has to be done. After deduction of 10%, the monthly income of the deceased will be Rs.10,800/-. Since the deceased is bachelor, the claimant is the mother of the deceased, as per “Smt. Sarla Verma and others v. Delhi Transport Corporation and another[2]” the dependency is only 50%. Thus, after deducting 50% from the monthly income of the deceased, it comes to Rs.5,400/- (Rs.10,800 – 5,400) per month. The lower Tribunal by taking into consideration of the age of the mother as 38 years applied multiplier ‘16’. In view of Sarla Verma’s case (referred supra), the multiplier that has to be applied for the age of ‘38’ years is only ‘15’. Thus, the claimant is entitled for compensation of Rs.9,72,000/- (Rs.5,400 X 12 X 15 = Rs.9,72,000/-). The learned counsel for the appellant has pleaded that the tribunal has awarded an amount of Rs.5,000/- towards funeral expenses, but nothing was awarded towards loss of estate. As per Sarla Verma’s case (referred supra), the claimant is entitled for Rs.5,000/- towards loss of estate and Rs.5,000/- towards funeral expenses. Thus, the claimant is entitled for a total compensation of Rs.9,82,000/-. Accordingly, the appeal is partly allowed and the compensation awarded by the lower tribunal is enhanced to Rs.9,82,000/- from Rs.1,65,000/-. The claimant is entitled for interest at the rate of 6% P.A. on the enhanced amount from the date of the petition till realization. _______________________ JUSTICE N.V.RAMANA. _____________________________ JUSTICE P. DURGA PRASAD Dated:04-08-2011 Ksp [1] 2009 (6) ALT 784 (D.B.) [2] 2009 AIR SCW 4992.