•si'', •;<yx ^^ 7i^ I ® s.yy Sl Isc. wysss 1 Anil Chande!, Aged about 40 years, S/o . Ramnath Chandel 2 Rajendra Kumar Chandel Aged about 38 years, S/o Ramnath Chande! 3 Navin Chandei Aged about 34 Years, S/o Ramnath Chande! 4 Praveen Chandel, Aged about 32 years, S/o Ramnath Chande! 5 . Mamta Kurmi Aged about 36 years, D/o Ramnath Chandel No. 1 to 5 resident of Kaserpara Ratanpur, District, Bilaspur Sushll Tamboti Aged about 29 years, S/o Bahoren - Tamboli, R/o Kashyap Colony, New Bus Stand Road Bilaspur (C.G.) Israr Ali Aged about 32 years. S/o Riyaz Ali, Musalman, R/o Idgah Chowk, Near Police Lines Bilaspur (C.G.) The New india Assurance Company Limited. Through Branch Manager Rajendra Nagar Chowk, Bilaspur (C.G.) Motor Vehicles Act Shri Sanjeev Kumar Agrawal, counsei for the appellants. ,, Shri Deepak Kumar Singh, counsel on behalf of Shri OP Aarawal, counse! for respondent No.1. 2 Shri AL Singraui, counsel on behalf of Shri Saurabh Sharma, counsel for respondent No.3. .rd (23roFebmary,2011) 'he following order of the Court was passed by This is claimants' appeal for enhancement of the compensation awarded by the Fifth Additional Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Bilaspur (for short 'the Tribunai') vide award dated 07.12.2002, passed in Claim Case No.134/2001. 2) As against the compensation of Rs.15,00,000/-, c!aimed by the appeilant/claimant, unfortunate widow of deceased Ramnath Chandel by filing a claim petition under Section 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act, for his death in the motor accident on 02.05.2001, the Tribunal awarded a total sum of Rs.87,000/- as compensation to the claimant along with interest @ 9% per annum from the date of filing of the claim petition till the date ofactual payment." 3) The Tribunal on a close scrutiny of the entire evidence led before it held that deceased Ramnath Chandel died on account of the injuriss sustained by him in the motor accident on 02.05.2001; the accident occurred due to rash and negligent driving of the driver the offending vehicle Bus bearing registration No.MP-26 C/5593; ss the above offending vehicle Bus on the date of the accident was insured with the New indi.g Insurance Company Limited, and the insurance Company could not establish any breach of the policy ^ • . • \. ,.,-- { ..;i_f-4—^y: I. ^.i^-4-^=-f-T-n3^^ EE3: s;S-"'-^bimUli«^rtffa3 '•^. 'f'. conditions, t'ne Insurance Company was liable to pay the compensation to the claimant. 4) As the respondents havs not filed any appeal against the award, the above findings recorded by the Tribunal have now attained flnality. 5) The Tribunal assessed the income of the deceased at Rs.1,500/- per month and Rs.18,000/- per annum. By deducting 1/3 of Rs.18,000/- towards the personal expenses of the deceased, the claimant's dependency was assessed at Rs.12,000/- per annum. By muitiplying the annual dependency of Rs.12,000/- with the multiplier of 5, the compensation was worked out to Rs.60,000/-. By awarding further sum of Rs.27,000/- under other heads, the Tribunal awarded a total sum of Rs.87,000/- as compensation to the ctaimant for the death of her husband deceased Ramnath Chandel in the motor accident. The Tribunal further directed payment of interest on the above amount of CQmpensation of Rs.87,000/- @ 9% per annum from the date of fsling ofthe claim petition tiil the date ofactual payment. 6) Shri Sanjeev Kumar Agrawal, iearnsd counsel for the appellants submitted that the Tribunal has erred in setecting the lower multiplier of 5; and in awarding low compensation of Rs.87,000/- only. 7) Shri AL Singraui, learned counsel appearing on behalf of Shri Saurabh Sharma, learned counsel for respondent No.3 the New india Insurance Company Limited, on the other hand supported the that as deceased Ramnath Chandel was ij;:^^i ^^?3®'ip'SSgSESES 4 aged about 60 years on the date of the accident, the compensation of Rs.87,000/- awarded by the Tribunal is just and proper compensation in the facts and circumstances of the present case. 8) Shri Deepak Kumar Singh, learned counsel appearing on behalf of Shri OP Agrawal, learned counsel for respondent No.1 , also supported the award. 9) True, the claimant pleaded that her husband deceased Ramnath Chandel used to earn Rs.300/- per day from his shop in the compound of. Mahamaya temple, Ratanpur, the evidence led in that behalf was not of clinching nature. We, therefore, do not find any infirmity in the assessment of the income of the deceased by the Tribunalat Rs.1,500/- per month and Rs.18,000/- per annum and the daimant's dependency at Rs.12,000/- per annum. 10) Nevertheless, the multiplier of 5 selected by the Tribunal is certainly on the iower side. Considering that deceased Ramnath Chande! and his widow claimant Smt Shanti Chandel were aged about 60 years on the date of the accident, muitiplier of 9 would be ippropriate in the present case, in view of the dictum of the Apex Court in the case of Sarla Verma (Smt) and Others Vs Delhi Transport Corporation and Another reported in (200S) 6 Supreme Court Cases 121, wherein multiplier of 9 has been prescribed for the age group between 56-60 years; 11) By multiplying the annual dependency of Rs.12,000/- with the multiplier of 9, the compensation works out to Rs.1,08,000/-. The claimant Is further entitled to receive Rs.10,000/- under other heads. The ctaimant, thus, becomes entitled to receive a total sum SSS^^^^^^i^:^' %•?;•~-"-;- •••••-'•.')»!'ir. ft' of Rs.1,18,000/- as compensation for the death of her husband Ramnath Chandel in She motor accident. 12) The claimant is further awarded a sum of Rs.3,000/- as quantlfied amount of interest on the enhanced amount of compensation of Rs.31,000/-. 13) For the foregoing reasons, the appeal filed by the appeliant/ claimant for enhancement of the compensation is allowed in part. The compensation of .Rs.87,000/- awarded by the Tribunal is enhanced to Rs.1,18,000/- with further quantified amount of interest of Rs.3,000/- on the enhanced amount of compensation of Rs.31,000/-. 14) Respondent No.3 the New India Insurance Company Limited is granted three months' time for depositing the total sum of Rs.34,000/- (Rs.31,000/- fowards enhanced amount of compensation + Rs.3,000/- towards quantified amount of interest on ihe enhanced amount of compensation of Rs.31,000/-) before the concerning Clalms Tribunal. 15) No order as to costs. Sd/- Chief Justice Sd/- ' , Suui's Kuaiar Sinha \ ge SUb3U '.:^1]"". ]'. .i||-^:^'J'!::-^=;;is~^^^^^::^'@A5TC'"*^CT"*" ,&s:iS .»W^SSS