HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE B. SESHASAYANA REDDY & HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE P. DURGA PRASAD M.A.C.M.A.No.2034 of 2006 Date:23.12.2010 Between: The Oriental Insurance Company Limited, rep. by its Branch Manager, Nizamabad ….Appellant. And: Rupendra Kaur Bawa and 3 others. …..Respondents. HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE B. SESHASAYANA REDDY & HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE P. DURGA PRASAD M.A.C.M.A.No.2034 of 2006 JUDGMENT: (per Hon’ble Sri Justice B. Seshasayana Reddy) This appeal is directed against the judgment dated 30.12.2005 passed in O.P.No.1984 of 2001 on the file of the I Additional Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, Nizamabad whereby and whereunder the learned I Additional Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal allowed the O.P in part and granted compensation of Rs.13,02,500/- with interest at 9% per annum from the date of filing of the petition till date of deposit. The respondent Nos.1 to 3 are the claimants in O.P.No.1984 of 2004. They filed the O.P. under Section 166 of the M.V. Act, 1988 claiming compensation of Rs.20,00,000/- for the death of Indrapal Singh Bawa in a road accident occurred on 14.10.2001. Claimant No.1 is widow, claimant No.2 is mother and claimant No.3 is son of Indrapal Singh Bawa. He was doing Auto Finance and motor vehicles business apart from attending agriculture and thereby earning Rs.2,40,000/- per annum. He was contributing his earnings to the maintenance of his family consisting of himself, his wife, mother and son. On 14.10.2001 at about 4.00 p.m he was driving his Maruthi car bearing No. MH 31 AG 29 from Nagpur towards Hyderabad and on reaching Rupla Naik Thanda, Dichpally Mandal, Nizamabad District, a lorry bearing No.MP 09 KB 8218 came in high speed driven in a rash and negligent manner and dashed his car. As a result, he received head injuries, crush injuries, multiple fractures and met with instantaneous death. One Abdul Washeed also received injuries in the accident and he too died on the spot and another inmate of the car Jaiswal received fracture injuries. Indrapal Singh Bawa was aged 28 years as on the date of accident. The claimants claimed compensation of Rs.20,00,000/- for his death. According to them, the owner and the insurer of the lorry are liable to pay the compensation. The owner and the insurer filed counters resisting the claim. The owner took the plea that the accident occurred due to the negligence of the deceased himself. Whereas the insured took plea that the quantum of amount claimed by the claimants was on high side and it was without any rational. Insurer also denied the age, avocation and income of the deceased. The Tribunal framed the following issues: 1. Whether the accident occurred on 14.10.2001 due to rash and negligent driving of the lorry bearing No.MP 09 KB 8218 driven by its drivers? 2. Whether the petitioners are entitled to compensation? If so, to what amount and from whom? 3. To what relief? On behalf of the claimants, two witnesses were examined and eight documents were marked. On behalf of the owner and insurer, neither ocular nor document was adduced except marking copy of the insurance policy as Ex.B-1. The Tribunal, on considering the evidence brought on record and on hearing the counsel appearing for the parties, came to the conclusion that the accident occurred due to rash and negligent driving of the driver of the lorry bearing No. MP 09 KB 8218 and that the claimants are entitled to compensation of Rs.13,02,500/-. Accordingly, the Tribunal allowed the OP in part by judgment dated 30.12.2005. Hence, this appeal filed by the insurer. Heard the learned counsel for the appellant-insurer and the counsel for the respondents 1 to 3-claimants. The learned counsel appearing for the appellant-insurer submits that the Tribunal having arrived the income of the deceased at Rs.80,000/- has not deducted any amount towards personal and living expenses and therefore, the quantum of amount of compensation granted to the claimants by the Tribunal is required to be recalculated after deducting 1/3rd of the income of the deceased towards his personal and living expenses. For contra, the learned counsel appearing for the respondents 1 to 3-claimants submits that the deceased was a business man and he was income tax assesse and his annual income must have been taken by the Tribunal at Rs.1,20,000/- and in which case the loss of dependency of the claimants would come to Rs.90,000/-. The learned counsel refers the income tax assessment for the years 1992-2001 which has been marked as Ex.A-5. The income tax assessment for the year 1992-2001 which has been marked as Ex.A-5 does not bear the seal of the Income Tax Department. The Tax Consultant who issued Ex.A-5 has not been examined by the claimants. Therefore, no credence can be given to Ex.A-5 income tax assessment for the year 1992-2001. The Tribunal having considered various aspects came to the conclusion that the deceased was earning of Rs.80,000/- per annum. Having arrived at the annual income, the Tribunal has not deducted any amount towards personal and living expenses of the deceased. In fatal accident cases the multiplicand and is arrived at by compounding the annual loss to the dependants. For this purpose, the annual income of the deceased is compounded and deducted for his personal and living expenses is made, which depends upon the facts of the case and may range from 1/3 to 1/2. The result figure is called the ‘basic figure’ or ‘datum’ which has to be multiplied with appropriate multiplier to arrive at the loss of future earning. In the given facts and circumstances, we are inclined to take the annual income of the deceased at Rs.90,000/- and giving deduction of 1/3rd of the income towards personal and living expenses, his contribution to the family can be arrived at Rs.60,000/- per annum. The Tribunal has taken 15 as multiplier. We are inclined to adopt the same multiplier keeping in view of the age of the deceased. The total loss of dependency of the claimants comes to 16X16= Rs.9,60,000/-. The claimants are also entitled to Rs.10,000/- towards loss of estate and claimant No.1 being the widow of the deceased entitled to Rs.10,000/- towards loss of consortium. The claimants are also entitled to Rs.2,500/- towards funeral expenses. In all, the claimants are entitled to Rs.9,82,500/- Accordingly, the appeal is partly allowed reducing the compensation from Rs.13,02,500/- to Rs.9,82,500/- with interest at 7.5% p.a from the date of petition till date of payment. The compensation shall be shared amongst all the claimants as follows: Claimant No.1 is entitled to Rs.3,00,000/- Claimant No.2 is entitled to Rs.1,00,000/- Claimant No.3 is entitled to Rs.5,82,500/- Out of amount awarded to the 1st claimant, an amount of Rs.2,00,000/- shall be invested in Fixed Deposit for a period of three years. She is permitted to take the interest accrued on the Fixed Deposit. The amount awarded to 3rd claimant shall be invested in Fixed Deposit initially for a period of three years and renew it from time to time till he attains the majority. The first claimant is permitted to take the interest accrued on the Fixed Deposits to meet the schooling and educational expenses of the 3rd claimant. _____________________________ B. SESHASAYANA REDDY,J. _____________________ P.DURGA PRASADJ. Date:23.12.2010. Gk. HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE B. SESHASAYANA REDDY & HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE P. DURGA PRASAD M.A.C.M.A.No.2034 of 2006 Date:23.12.2010 Gk.