IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD THURSDAY, THE THIRTIETH DAY OF MARCH TWO THOUSAND AND ELEVEN PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE K.S.APPA RAO CIVIL MISCELLANEOUS APPEAL NO.3230 OF 2003 Between : The New India Assurance Company Ltd. ... APPELLANT A N D Metri Siddam Balaiah and others. …RESPONDENTS THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE K.S.APPA RAO CIVIL MISCELLANEOUS APPEAL NO.3230 OF 2003 JUDGMENT: This Civil Miscellaneous Appeal under Section 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (for short, ‘the Act’) is directed against the Judgment, dated 29.08.2002 in O.P.No.1421 of 2001 on the file of the Chairman, Motor Accident Claims Tribunal-cum- District Judge, Nizamabad. 2. The appellant herein is respondent No.2 and the respondents herein are the petitioners in the O.P. For the sake of convenience, the parties herein are referred to as they are arrayed in the O.P. before the Tribunal. 3. The petitioners filed O.P.No.1421 of 2001 claiming compensation of Rs.6,00,000/- for the death of the deceased Metri Siddam Sailoo in a road accident. The Tribunal by evaluating the evidence on record, awarded an amount of Rs.3,77,500/- under all heads. Aggrieved by the same, the New India Assurance Company Limited – respondent No.2, filed this appeal. 4. Now the point for consideration is whether the order of the Tribunal is sustainable? 5. Learned counsel appearing for the appellant contended that the Tribunal by arriving dependency deducted 1/3rd of the amount towards personal expenses of the deceased, but, the deceased was an unmarried person, half of the amount has to be deducted towards personal expenses of the deceased. The Tribunal also granted interest @9% per annum, which is not in accordance with rules. 6. The accident is not disputed before this Court. According to the petitioners, P.W.1 is an eyewitness to the accident. Basing on the evidence of P.W.1, the Tribunal fastened the liability against respondent Nos.1 and 2 jointly and severally liable to pay the compensation to the petitioners. 7. Regarding the quantum of compensation, the Tribunal has taken the income of the deceased at Rs.3000/- per month. Admittedly, the deceased was aged about 20 years and the petitioners are depending on the income of the deceased. The Tribunal deducted 1/3rd of the amount towards personal expenses of the deceased. As per Sarla Verma and Others V. Delhi Transport Corporation[1] half of the earnings has to be deducted towards personal expenses of the deceased. If that is taken into consideration, the income contributed to the family comes to Rs.18000/- per annum (Rs.1500x12). Since the deceased died unmarried, for appropriate assessment, it is just and reasonable the age of the mother of the deceased is relevant factor and it is to be applied. The age of petitioner No.2 that is mother of the deceased is shown as 45 years. Therefore, applying appropriate multiplier ‘15’ the loss of dependency comes to Rs.2,70,000/- (Rs.18000x15). Apart from this, the Tribunal also granted an amount of Rs.15,000/- towards loss of estate and Rs.2500/- towards funeral expenses. Thus, in all the petitioners are entitled a sum of Rs.2,87,500/-. 8. The Tribunal granted interest @9% per annum from the date of petition to the date of realization. As per Sarla Verma’s case, the petitioners are entitled interest @6% per annum from the date of petition till realization. 9. Accordingly, the Civil Miscellaneous Appeal is partly allowed reducing the compensation from Rs.3,77,500/- to Rs.2,87,500/- which shall carry interest @6% per annum from the date of claim petition till realization. There shall be no order as to costs. __________________ K.S.APPA RAO, J MARCH 31, 2011. YVL [1] 2009 ACJ 1298