HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR DIVISIONBENCH CORAM: HON'BLE SHRI N.K. AGARWAL & HON'BLE SHRI RANGNATH CHANDRAKAR, JJ. Misc. Appeal (0 No. 617 of 2004 Appellants x Respondents 1 Smt. Meena Bai, w/o. Late Shri Jaganram Bhagat,agedabout 46 years. 2 Ku. Sunita Bhagat, D/o. late Shri Jaganram Bhagat, aged about 21 years. 3 Sunil Bhagat, s/o. Late Shri Jaganram Bhagat, aged about 10 years, appellant No.3 is minor, his guardian Smt. Meera Bai. 4. Ku. Laxmi Bhagat, D/o. Late Shri Jaganram Bhagat, aged about 12 years, appeliant No.4 minor, her guardian Smt.Meera Bai. Both residents - Qtr. SE/618, CSEB, Colony, Korba (CG). VERSUS 1 Santosh Kumar Yadav, s/o. Jagram Yadav, aged about 28 years, r/o. Gram Kharod,Tiwaripara, P.S. Shivrinarayan, District Janjgir-Champa (CG), present address Pump-House Colony, Korba, Tah. & Distt. Korba (CG). 2 Manoj Kumar Kesharwani, s/o. Jawahar Lal Kesharwani, aged about 30 years, r/o. Gram Shivrinarayan, P.S. Shivrinarayan, Distt. Janjgir-Champa (CG). 3 The New India Insurance Co. Ltd., 116 Rajendra Nagar Chowk, Link Road, Bilaspur, District - Bilaspur (CG), c/o. Mandal Office, The New India Insurance Co. Ltd., Transport Nagar, Korba, Distt. Korba (CG). (Miscellaneous Appeal u/S. 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act) Present : •t Ar ^-ji Smt. Renu Kochar with Ms. Sonia Kuldeep, counsel for the appellants. None for respondent No.1. Shri H.B. Agarwal, Sr. Advocate with Smt. Meera Jaiswal, counsel for respondent No.2. Shri Sudhir Agarwal with Shri P. Dutta, counsel for respondent No.3. ORDER (Passedon 22-11-2011) The following order of the Court was passed by N.K. Agarwal, J. This is claimants' appeal for enhancement of the compensation awarded by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Korba (for short 'the Tribunal') vide award dated 24-1-2004, passed in Claim Case No. 18/2003. As against the compensation of Rs. 45,29,140- claimed by the appellants/claimants, unfortunate widow and minor children of deceased Jaganram Bhagat by filing a claim petition under Section 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act for his death in the motor accident on 25-12-2002, the Tribunal awarded a total sum of Rs.6,16,788/- as compensation along with interest @ 9% per annum from the date offiling ofthe claim petition till the date of actual payment. The Tribunal on a close scrutiny of the entire evidence led before it held that deceased Jaganram Bhagat died on account of the injuries sustained by him in the motor accident on 25-12-2002; the accident occurred due to rash and negligent driving of the offending vehicle Maruti Van bearing registration No.CG-04/ZD 6748 (old No. MP/23 - L 2568) by its driver Manoj Kumar Kesharwani i.e., respondent No.2; as the above offending vehicle Maruti Van at the time of the accident was insured with respondent No.3/The New India Insurance Company Limited and the Insurance Company could not establish any breach of the policy conditions, the Insurance Company was liable to pay compensation to the claimants. Smt. Renu Kochar, learned counsel appearing for the appellants/claimants would submit: the Tribunal has erred in taking into consideration the net income of Rs.10,273/- per month of the deceased; in selecting multiplier of 7 only and in awarding low compensation of Rs.6,16,788/-. On the other hand, Shri H.B. Agarwal, learned Sr. Advocate with Smt. Meera Jaiswal, counsel for respondent No.2 and Shri Sudhir Agarwal with Shri P. Dutta, counsel for respondent No.3/ The New India Insurance Company Ltd., would submit that the amount of compensation awarded by the Tribunal in the facts and circumstances of the present case, is just and proper compensation and does not call forany interference. We have heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the recordsofthe Tribunal including award impugned. It is not in dispute that deceased Jaganram Bhagat died on account of the injuries sustained by him in the motor accident on 25.12.2002 and was working as Supervisor in C.S.E.B., Korba. As per the postmortem report, the deceased was aged about 55 years at the time of the accident. ^' 8. The Tribunal taking into consideration the net income of Rs.10,273/- per month ofthe deceased and selecting the multiplier of 7 has awarded Rs.6,16,788/- as compensation to theclaimants. 9. It is a trite law that for the purpose of computation of the compensation, the gross-salary of the deceased minus the tax being paidby him has to be considered. 10. It is also not in dispute thatlooking to the age of the deceased as 55 years at the time of the accident, appropriate multiplier would be 11 in place of 7, in view of the dictum of the Apex Court in the caseof Sarla Verma (Smt) and others Versus Delhi Transport Corporation and another reported in (2009) 6 Supreme Court Cases 121, wherein multiplier of 11 has been prescribed for the agegroup between 51-55 years. 11. For the purpose ofassessment of gross-salary of the deceased we have perused the salary-slip (Ex.P/10) filed by the appellants/ claimants. As per the salary-slip (Ex.P/10) basic-pay of the deceased was Rs.6,725/- per month; he was getting Rs.4,020/- per month towards dearness allowance and Rs.120/- towards conveyance allowance as regular salary. Besides that, the deceased was also getting some additional amount which was not part ofthe regular salaryof the deceased. After deducting amount of income tax and professional tax from the gross-salary of the deceased, it would come to Rs.10,773/- per month and Rs.1,29,276/- per annum. By deducting 1/3rd towards the personal expenses of the deceased, the claimants' annualdependency is assessed at Rs.86,184/-. By multiplying the claimants' annual dependency of Rs.86,184/- with the multiplier of 11, the amount of compensation on account of loss of dependency works out to Rs.9,48,024/-. The claimants are further entitled to receive Rs.5,000/- towards loss of consortium to the widow; Rs.5,000/- for loss of estate; and Rs.5,000/- towards funeral expenses. By adding the further sum of Rs.11,500/- awarded by the Tribunal towards damage to the scooter, the appellants/ claimants would become entitled to receive total sum of Rs.9,74,524/- instead of Rs.6,16,788/- awarded by the Tribunal. 12. For the foregoing reasons, the appeal filed by the appellants/ claimants is allowed in part. The claimants are awarded further sum of Rs.3,57,836/- over and above the sum of Rs.6,16,788/- awarded by the Tribunal. 13. The amount of compensation awarded by the Tribunal is modified to the above extent. The rest of the conditions of the award impugned shall remain intact. The above enhanced amount of compensation of Rs.3,57,836/- shall carry interest @ 6% per annum from the date of filing of the claim petition till the date of actual payment. 14. Respondent No.3 The New India Insurance Company Limited is granted three months' time for depositing the enhanced amount of compensation of Rs.3,57,836/- along with interest @6% per annum from the date of filing of the claim petition till the date of actual payment, before the concerning Claims Tribunal. 15. No order as to costs. Sd/- N.K. Agrawal Judge Sd/- |R.N.Chandrakar ^ ^ Judge w ^' v^