1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN JAIPUR BENCH, JAIPUR. JUDGMENT (Pramod Sharma Vs. Pawan Kumar and ors.) S.B.CIVIL MISC. APPEAL NO.1296/2001 S.B. Civil Misc. appeal under Section 173 of Motor Vehicles Act against the award dated 2nd June, 2001 passed by M.A.C.T. Kotputali, District Jaipur in claim Case No.75/98. DATE OF JUDGMENT ::: 29th OCTOBER, 2009 PRESENT HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE MAHESH BHAGWATI Mr. Rakesh Bhargava for the appellant. Mrs. Chitra Goyal for respondent No.3- Insurance Co. BY THE COURT: The appellant has filed this appeal for the enhancement of quantum of compensation under the impugned award dated 2nd June, 2001 passed by Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Kotputali. The learned counsel for the appellant has centred his argument only on one point that the learned Tribunal has erroneously reduced 1/3rd amount from the notional income of the deceased. He has canvassed that when the notional income for compensation is taken into consideration as per the IInd Scheduled of the Motor Vehicles Act, then 1/3rd amount is not permitted to be reduced towards the expenses to be incurred on 2 the maintenance of the victim himself had he/she been alive. He has cited one judgment reported in MACD 2008(2) (Raj.) 669 in support thereof. In the case of Mukti (Smt.) & Anr. Vs. Shri happu Singh & ors. reported in MACD 2008(2) (Raj.) 669, this court has observed as under:- “It is directed that the payment of compensation to the claimants shall be made on the total annual notional income of Rs.15,000/- multiplied by the multiplier of 18, in this manner an amount of Rs.1,35,000/- awarded to the claimant shall be liable to be doubled to Rs.2,70,000/- with compensation awarded under other heads being maintained.” The Coordinate Bench relied upon the case of Hanuman & Anr. Vs. United India Insurance Co. Ltd. MACD 2007(1) (Raj.) 616 wherein it was held that “when computation of compensation is made on notional income basis, taking that factor into account further deduction even on that minimum amount ought not to be made, particularly when already the amount of income is on reduced scale. Learned counsel for the respondent has not opposed this legal argument. Having reflected over the submissions made by the learned counsel for the appellant and carefully perused the relevant material including the 3 impugned award, it is noticed that the learned Tribunal firstly took the notional income of the deceased into consideration which is Rs.15,000/- per annum as per the IInd Scheduled of the Act and secondly, reduced 1/3rd amount from the same towards expenses being incurred on herself had she been alive. The Coordinate Bench of this Court has deprecated this interpretation. In fact notional income for compensation is to be taken into consideration only in the case of those persons who had no income prior to accident. When the deceased had no income, how can it be said that he would have spent 1/3rd of his income on himself had he or she been alive. The person can be deemed to have spent 1/3rd of his income on himself only in that situation when he, in fact, earns money. If there is no income, there can be no expenditure. The learned Tribunal has wrongly reduced 1/3rd from the notional income of Rs.15,000/- and in view of the aforesaid judgment the total annual notional income should be taken into consideration for the computation of amount of compensation. In the instant case, the age of the deceased was 50 years, which stands substantiated by the Post mortem report also wherein the Doctor has mentioned the age of the deceased to be 50 years and as per the IInd Scheduled of the Motor Vehicles 4 Act, a multiplier of 11 is to be applied. Thus, the appellant is entitled to get the following amount of compensation: 15,000 X 11 = Rs.1,65,000/- Rest of the amount awarded on different heads shall remain unchanged. For the reasons stated above, the appeal is allowed. After deducting the interim award of Rs.50,000/- the appellant is entitled to get Rs.1,19,000/-(Rs.1,65,000 +2,000 +2,000- 50,000) from the respondents severally or jointly. He shall be entitled to get 9% rate of interest also on the enhanced amount from the date of filing the claim petition till the realization of the said enhanced amount. Rest of the terms of the award shall remain unchanged. The award stands modified as indicated hereinabove. There shall be no order as to costs. (MAHESH BHAGWATI),J. PCG 5 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN JAIPUR BENCH, JAIPUR. (Pramod Sharma Vs. Pawan Kumar and ors.) S.B.CIVIL MISC. APPEAL NO.1296/2001 DATE OF ORDER ::: 29th OCTOBER, 2009 PRESENT HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE MAHESH BHAGWATI Mr. Rakesh Bhargava for the appellant. Mrs. Chitra Goyal for respondent No.3- Insurance Co. For the reasons stated above, the appeal is allowed. After deducting the interim award of Rs.50,000/- the appellant is entitled to get Rs.1,19,000/-(Rs.1,65,000 +2,000 +2,000- 50,000) from the respondents severally or jointly. He shall be entitled to get 9% rate of interest also on the enhanced amount from the date of filing the claim petition till the realization of the said enhanced amount. Rest of the terms of the award shall remain unchanged. (See separate judgment). (MAHESH BHAGWATI),J. PCG