HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE GHULAM MOHAMMED MA C.M.A.No. 3263 OF 2003 JUDGMENT: APSRTC is the appellant, who filed the appeal challenging the award and decree passed in MVOP No. 479 of 2002 dated 05.06.2003 on the file of the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal cum II Additional District Judge, Karimnagar, filed under Section 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act, claiming a compensation of Rs. 8,00,000/- as against which, the Tribunal awarded Rs. 5,90,000/-. The brief facts of the case are as follows: On 30.4.2002, when the deceased was going on luna to Kattaramour of karimnagar and when he reached Boiwada Chowrastha an RTC DGT bus bearing No. AEZ 4205 of II Depot, Warangal driven by its driver in a rash and negligent manner lost his control and dashed against the deceased. As result of which, the deceased received injuries and died on the spot. Hence, the claimants laid a claim seeking compensation of Rs. 8,00,000/-. To prove the claim on behalf of the claimants PW-1 was examined and marked Exs. A1 to A5 and on behalf of respondents RW-1, driver of the APSRTC bus was examined and no documents were marked. On consideration of the oral and documentary evidence, the Tribunal came to the conclusion that the accident occurred due to rash and negligent driving of the driver of the accident bus. The Tribunal taking into consideration of Ex. A5, which is an extract of the service book, the date of birth of the deceased was shown as 10.6.1954 therefore, the relevant factor would be 12. Ex. A4 is the salary certificate, which shows that the salary of the deceased was Rs. 5,837/- and if 1/3rd of the income is deducted towards his personal expenses Rs. 3,892/- would be the loss of monthly dependency of the claimants and the annual dependency comes to Rs. 46,704/- (Rs. 3,892 x12) and if the relevant factor of 12 applies, the total comes to Rs. 5,60,448/- (46,704 x12). The Tribunal awarded Rs. 10,000/- towards loss of consortium to the wife and Rs. 10,000/- towards loss of love and affection to the mother of the deceased. The learned counsel appearing for the appellant- APSRTC contended that the Tribunal grossly erred in applying the multiplier 12 to the age of 48 years in fact the correct multiplier is 9. He also submits that the Tribunal erred in awarding compensation of Rs. 10,000/- to the mother of the deceased under the head of loss of support but there is no provision in Motor Vehicles Act to grant such amount. Heard the learned counsel appearing for both sides and also perused the material made available on record. As seen from the record, it is no doubt true that the accident occurred due to rash and negligent driving of driver of the crime Bus. The Tribunal taking into consideration of facts and circumstances of the case and the evidence on record, observed that the claimants are none other than the wife, daughter and mother of the deceased and taking into consideration of Ex. A5, wherein the date of birth of the deceased was shown as 10.6.1954, applied the relevant multiplier 12 and as per Ex. A4, the salary of the deceased was Rs. 5,837/- and after deducting 1/3rd of the amount towards his personal expenses, calculated the monthly dependency at Rs. 3,892/- and annual dependency at Rs. 46,704/- (3,892 x12) and after applying the relevant factor the loss of dependency comes to Rs. 5,60,448/- (46,704/- x 12). Therefore, the Tribunal rightly calculated the amount and there are no grounds to interfere with the finding regarding the dependency arrived at by the Tribunal. The Tribunal also awarded Rs. 10,000/- to the wife towards loss of consortium, in my considered opinion, that should not be interfered with. But an amount of Rs. 10,000/- was granted to the mother of the deceased towards love and affection, in my considered view the Tribunal wrongly granted the amount under the head loss of support in her old age, when there is no provision in Motor Vehicles Act. With the above modification, Civil Miscellaneous Appeal is allowed in part reducing the amount of Rs. 10,000/- granted to the mother of the deceased towards love and affection. However, as rightly pointed out by the learned counsel appearing for the appellant-APSRTC, in view of catena of decisions of the Apex Court interest awarded by the Tribunal has to be reduced. Therefore, the interest granted by the Tribunal is reduced from 9% per annum to 7% per annum. There shall be no order as to costs. _____________________ GHULAM MOHAMMED, J Date: 22.07.2010 KA