IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA Miscellaneous Appeal No.186 of 2010 Oriental Insurance Company Division 1, Patna through Sri Anil Kumar Biswat-cum and Duly constituted Attorney The Oriental Insurance Company Ltd. , Regional Office , Pir Mohani, Kadam Kuan, Patna ( Opp.Party no.3) ---- Appellants Versus 1. Parmeshwari Devi of Late Bishwanath Paswan --(Claimant no.1) 2. Sukul Paswan son of Late Bishwanath Paswan --( Claimant no.2) 3. Badu Paswan son of Late Bishwanath Paswan—( Claimant no.3) 4. Jogendra Paswan, Son of Late Bishwanath Paswan –( Claimant no.4) 5. Lalendra Paswan, Son of Late Bishwanath Paswan –( Claimant no.5) All residents of Village- Chakdullah, P.S. and P.O. Dhanarua, District-Patna 6. Basudeo Prasad, Son of Bhawsagar Prasad, resident of Village- Ramchaksan, P.O. and P.S. Dhanarua, District-Patna ( Opp.Party no.1) 7. Ram Babu Prasad, Son of Sohan Ram, resident of Village- Kuta Nawada, P.O. and P.S. Phulwarisarif, District-Patna ( Opp.Party no.2) ---------------------------------- Respondents O R D E R For the appellant: Sri Ashok Priyadarshi, Advocate For the Respondents: Mr. ------------ 04 14-10-2011 The present appeal under Section 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act,1988 ( hereinafter referred to as the ― M.V.Act‖) has been preferred against the Judgment dated 23.09.2006 and award dated 22.12.2009 passed by the Motor Vehicles Claims Tribunal- cum- Addl. District Judge XII, Patna ( hereinafter referred to as the ―Claims Tribunal‖) in Claim Case no.120 of 2005 . By the said Judgment and award, the learned Claims Tribunal has directed the appellant to pay the total compensation amount of Rs.89, 500/-, from which amount interim compensation of Rs.50, 000/- was to be deducted. The remaining compensation amount i.e. Rs.39, 500/- was 2 directed to be paid with interest @ 7.5 % per annum from the date of filing of the claim case. Short fact of the case is that the husband of Respondent no.1, namely, Bishwanath Paswan on the date of occurrence i.e. on 11.06.2003 was travelling on a bus, bearing Registration no. BHF 1188. He was going to his village by the said bus. However, near the village-Harbigha, due to rash and negligent driving of the driver of the bus, it crashed with a tree and thereafter it turned into a ditch. Due to the said accident , the husband of claimant no.1 died on the spot and, as such, an F.I.R. vide Shahjahanpur P.S. Case no.23 of 2003 was registered under Sections 279,304A,337, 338 and 429 of the Indian Penal Code. Subsequently, a claim petition was filed which was numbered as Claim Case no.120 of 2005. During the pendency of the claim case, a petition under Section 140 of the M.V.Act was filed for interim compensation, which was allowed and the insurer of the offending vehicle i.e. the appellant was directed to make payment of interim compensation. The said compensation amount was paid to the claimants. Before the Claims Tribunal, after framing of the issues, the claimants examined altogether four witnesses and number of documents were brought on record. F.I.R. of Shahjahanpur P.S. Case no.23 of 2003 was got exhibited as Ext.1, certified copy of the chargesheet as Ext.2, Postmortem Examination Report as Ext.3 and photo copy of the Insurance Policy was marked as Ext.4. It is not in dispute that at the time of accident, the offending vehicle was under the insurance cover of the appellant i.e. The Oriental Insurance Company, Patna 3 Before the Claims Tribunal, the insurer/ appellant took a plea that it was a case of contributory liability. Since the deceased at the time of accident was travelling on the roof of the bus, the deceased was also responsible for the accident and adopting the contributory liability, at least 30 % amount of compensation was required to be deducted. However, it appears that before the Claims Tribunal, the claimants had made out a specific case that the deceased at the time of accident was inside the bus and, as such, he cannot be held liable for his own contribution or negligence. The deceased at the time of accident was about 60 years old and since no income certificate was brought on record by the claimants, the Claims Tribunal has adopted notional income as prescribed in Schedule-II of the M.V.Act and, as such, Rs.15,000/- per annum notional income was allowed and keeping in view the age of the deceased as 60 years , multiplier of 8 was taken into account and, as such, total loss of dependency was considered and after deducting 1/3rd of the income, total loss of dependency was considered as Rs.80,000/- . The Claims Tribunal also allowed Rs.2500/- as loss of estate, Rs.2000/- as funeral expenses and Rs.5000/- as loss of consortium and, as such, total compensation amount as per calculation had come to Rs.89, 500/-. Since Rs.50, 000/- was already received by the claimants as interim compensation, the said amount was directed to be deducted and thereafter Rs.39, 000/- total amount with interest @ 7.5 % per annum from the date of filing of the case was directed to be paid. Even for such meager compensation amount, the Insurance 4 Company has preferred the present appeal. After going through the impugned Judgment and award, the Court is of the opinion that the impugned Judgment and award requires no interference, particularly in view of meager compensation amount and, as such, I do not find any ground to interfere with the impugned order. Accordingly, the appeal stands dismissed at the stage of admission itself. The appellant is directed to pay the compensation amount with interest within two months from the date of receipt/production of a copy of this order. The statutory amount deposited at the time of filing of this appeal is directed to be paid to the appellant. NKS/- ( Rakesh Kumar, J.)