IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD Friday, the Seventh day of August Two Thousand And Nine PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE R. KANTHA RAO MOTOR VEHICLE ACT (CMA) NO : 1139 of 2005 (Appeal under Section ____ against the order/decree in OP no. : 594 of 2002 dated 14/03/2005 on the file of the court of theI Additional District Judge, Nalgonda) Between: 1 Pendam Mariyamma, W/o. Ramulu, R/o. H.No. 5-12-143, Srinivasa Colony, BTS Locality, Nalgonda Town. 2 Pendam Nagaraju, S/o. Ramulu, R/o. H.No. 5-12-143, Srinivasa Colony, BTS Locality, Nalgonda Town. 3 Pendam Nagarjuna, S/o. Ramulu, R/o. H.No. 5-12-143, Srinivasa Colony, BTS Locality, Nalgonda Town. 4 Pendam Kumari Palguna, D/o. Ramulu, R/o. H.No. 5-12-143, Srinivasa Colony, BTS Locality, Nalgonda Town. 5 Pendam Kumari Karthika, D/o. Ramulu, R/o. H.No. 5-12-143, Srinivasa Colony, BTS Locality, Nalgonda Town. ..... APPELLANT(S) AND 1 Kranti Road Transport Private Limited, R/o. 5th Road, S. Auto Nagar, Vijayawada. 2 The National Insurance Company Limited, Regional Office, Basheerbagh, Hyderabad, M.G. Road, Labbipeta, Vijayawada. .....RESPONDENT(S) Counsel for the Appellant:MR.C.VENKAT YADAV Counsel for the Respondent No.: MR.G.VISHWESHWAR REDDY The Court delivered the following JUDGEMENT: THE HON’BLE MR JUSTICE R. KANTHA RAO M.A.C.M.A.No. 1139 of 2005 JUDGMENT: This appeal is by the claimants challenging the award passed by the I Additional District Judge, (Motor Accident Claims Tribunal), Nalgonda in O.P. No. 594 of 2002 seeking enhancement of compensation. 2. In respect of the death of the deceased in a motor vehicle accident, the Tribunal granted an amount of Rs.1,86,575/- in a claim petition filed under Section 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act by the legal representatives of the deceased. 3. It has been contended by the learned Counsel appearing for the appellants/claimants that the Tribunal instead of taking the gross salary of Rs.19,970/- per month of the deceased, who was working as AAO, ERO, CPDCL, Nalgonda for the purpose of computing compensation, it was wrongly taken as Rs.15,061.50 ps, which was mentioned as gross salary of the deceased in the pay slip of the month of April and took into account, the net salary of Rs.5,105.70 ps for the purpose of computing compensation and accordingly granted a meager amount of Rs. 1,86,575/- as compensation to the appellants, the same being inadequate, unjust and unreasonable and therefore deserves to be enhanced. 4. On the other hand, the learned Counsel appearing for the respondent-insurance company contends that the amount granted by the Tribunal towards compensation in its award is just and reasonable and, therefore, it needs no interference in this appeal. 5. I n Sarla Verma v. Delhi Transport Corporation[1], the Supreme Court issued certain guidelines relating to the income to be considered for the purpose of computing compensation, the selection of multiplier deducting the amount towards personal and living expenditure of the deceased, setting at rest the conflicting judgments on these aspects. 6. Therefore, by examining the contentions urged by the appellants, just and reasonable compensation has to be arrived at basing on the above referred decision of the Supreme Court. 7. As per the above decision of the Supreme Court, the actual salary of the deceased has to be taken into consideration for the purpose of computing compensation. In Ex.A8 salary certificate for the month of April, 2002 issued by the office of the deceased where he was working, his gross salary is mentioned as Rs.15,061.50 ps and the Tribunal ought to have taken that amount for the purpose of computing compensation. Further, according to the Supreme Court, in cases where number of the dependents is 4 to 6, the deduction towards personal and living expenses of the deceased should be 1/4th of his income. The monthly income of the deceased is Rs.15,061.50 ps, out of which 1/4th of the amount towards personal and living expenses comes to Rs.3,765.38 ps-, and if the same is deducted from the gross salary of the deceased, it comes to Rs.11,296/- per month. According to the decision of the Supreme Court in Sarla Verma, the relevant multiplier for the age group of deceased, who was 54 years at the time of his death, is 11. Therefore, for arriving at the loss of dependency, if the monthly income of Rs.11,296/-, after deducting 1/4th of the amount towards personal and living expenses, is capitalized with multiplier 11, it comes to Rs.1,24,256/- per month and Rs.14,91,072/- per annum. In addition to the above amount, the appellants will be entitled to a sum of Rs.5,000/- towards loss of estate, Rs.5,000/- towards funeral expenses and the widow of the deceased, the first claimant, is entitled to Rs.10,000/- towards loss of consortium. 8. Thus, the appellants are entitled to a total compensation of Rs. 15,11,072/-. After deducting Rs.1,86,575/- awarded by the Tribunal, now the enhancement is Rs.13,24,497/-, in addition to what is already awarded with interest at the rate of 6% p.a. from the date of petition till the date of realization. It is directed that the first claimant alone is entitled to the entire enhanced compensation granted in this appeal. 9. In the result, the appeal is partly allowed. There shall be no order as to costs. ___________________ Date: 07.08.2009. R. KANTHA RAO, J MRKR ...........REGISTRAR To 1.I Additional District Judge, Nalgonda 2.2 CD copies Form-NIC-OGS/MACMA{JR} [1] 2009(2) L.S. 29 (S.C.)