IN THE HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR M.A.(C) NO.^f/ /2010 -Tf APPELLANTS CLAIMANTS c ^^ ,\^ ^".'..^ yy^ ..-"^"' ^» • ^•1' ...-^ .c-N*' ^°-^.--"' ^'" RESPONDENTS NON-APPLICANTS Islon BQg^oi 1. Nusrat Bibi, Wife of Late Mohd. RaGque, aged 30 years, Occupation House wife 2. Muskan, D/o. Late Mohd. Rafique, aged 8 years (Minor), Occupation Student, 3. Shahbaj Khan, S/o. Late Mohd. Rafique, aged 6 years (Minor), Occupation Student 4. Aaisha, D/o. Late Mohd. Ralique, aged 4 years (Minor), Occupation Student, 5. Aaifa, D/o. Late Mohd. Rafique, aged 4 years (Minor), Occupation Student, Appellant No. 2 to 5 are minor, Through the natural guardian Mother Nusrat Bibi (Appellant No.l) All R/o. Main Road, Navapur, Surajpur (in-front of Nutthu Petrol Pump), P.S. and Tahsil Surajpur, District Surguja (C.G.). VERSUS 1. Vijay Bahadur Gupta, S/o. Ram Prasad Gupta, aged about 35 years, R/o. Myorpur, P.S. Dudhi, District Sonbhadra (U.P.) (Driver) 2. Ganesh Prasad Jaiswal, Son of Laxmi Narayan Jaiswal, R/o. Jilasi Mod, Myorpur, P.S. Dudhi, District Sonbhadra (U.P.) (Owner) The New India Insurance Co. Ltd., Through : Divisional Manager, The New India Insurance Co.Ltd., Division Office, Transport Nagar, Korba (C.G.) (Insurer) Mohd. Yunus Khan, S/o. Mohd. Hanif Khan, aged about 75 years, Occupation Agriculture, JainaA^Bibi, Wife of Mohd. '?|r Yunus Khan, aged about 70 years, Occupation House Wife, Both R/o. Village Tetar, P.S. Manatu, District Palamu (Jharkhand) MISC. APPEAL U/S. 173 OF M..V.ACT FOR ENHANCEMENT HJGH CQUmLOF CHHATTJSGARH AT BILASPUI IQNBENCH CORAM: HON'BLE SHRi RAJEEV GUPTA, C.J. HON'BLE SHRS RANGNATH CHANDRAKAR, ADpeilants Ci'aimants 1. Nusrat Blbi, Wife of Late Rafique, agsd 30 years, Occupation House Wife 2. Muskan, D/o Late Mohd. Rafique, aged 8 years (Minor), Occupatlon Student. 3. Shahbaj Khan, S/o Late Mohd. Rafique, aged 6 ycars (Minor), Occupation Student 4. Aaisha, D/o Late Mohd. Rafique, aged years (Minor), Occupation Student 4 Aaifa, D/o. Late Mohd. Rafique, aged 4 years (Minor), Occupation Student, Appellant No. 2 to 5 are minor, Through the naturai guardian Mother Nusrat Bibi (Appellant No.1) All R/o. Main Road, Navapur, Surajpur (in-front of Nutthu Pstroi Pump), P.S. and Tahsil Surajpur, District Surguja (C.G.) Respondents/ Non-applicants Vijay Bahadur Gupta, S/o. Ram Prasad Gupta, ^—^-."t ciytsu 35 /o. sbouf 35 ysars, Myorpur, P.S. Dudhi, District Sonbhadra (U.P.) (Drivert 2 Ganesh Prasad Jaiswal, Son of Laxmi Narayan Jalswai, R/o. Jiiasi ivlod, Myorpur, P.S. Dudhi, District Sonbhadra (U.P.) iOwneri 3 The New indla tnsurance Co. Ltd., Through : Divlsionai Manager, The New India insurance Co. Ltd., Dlvision Offlce, Transport Nagsr, Korba (C.G.) (Insurer) 4. Mohd. Yunus Khan, S/o Mohd. Hanif ^hsn, aggd sbout 75 yssrs, Occupatlon Agriculture, 5. Jainab Blbi, Wlfe of Mohd. Yunus Khan, aged about 70 years, OccupaSion House Wife, Both R/o. Villaae Tetar. D.s. Manatu, District (Jharfchand) Misc. Appeal under Section 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act.1988 Shri Ashok Kumar Shukla, iearned counsel for the appellants. ORDER (10th August, 2Q1Q) The following order of the Court was passed by Rajeev Gupta, CJ. Shri Ashok Kumar Shukla, learned counsel for the appellants is heard on admission. 2) The appellants are seeking enhancement of the compensatlon awarded by the First Additional Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Surajpur, District Surguja (for short 'the Tribunal') vide award dated 06.05.2010, passed in Claim Case No.106/2007. 3) As against the compensation of Rs.25,00,000/- ciaimed by the appeliants/claimants, unfortunate wldow and minor children of deceased Mohd. Raflque, byditing a claim petition under Section 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act, for his death in the motor accident on 18.01.2007, fhe Tribunal awarded a totat sum of Rs.4,00,000/- as compensation and Rs.20,000/- as interest to the claimants. ^^--^^p^ - ^ 4) Shri Ashok Kumar Shukla, Searned counsei for the appellants vehemently argued that the Tribunal has erred in awarding low compensation of Rs.4,00,000/- only. 5) True, the claimants pleaded that deceased Mohd. Rafique used to earn Rs.15,000/- per month by running a mechanic shop, no documentary evidence was adduced before the Tribunal to establish that the deceased was running any shop at ail. in this state of evidence, the Tribunai has rightiy discarded the ctalmants' evidence about the income ofthe deceased. 6) lt is true that the Tribunai wlthout assessing the income of the deceased and the claimants' dependency and multiplying She dependency with the appropriate muitiplier, has awarded lump-sum of Rs.4,00,000/- as compensation to the claimants. Even assuming the income of the deceased at Rs.36,000/- per annum in the year 2007, which we have assessed in other cases on the basis of the notional income for the year 2007, the claimants' dependency would be Rs.24,000/- per annum; by deducting 1/3 of Rs.36,000./- towards the personai expenses of the deceased; as the deceased was shown to be 40 years of age in the documents fiied by the claimants before the Tribunat, the appropriate multiplier would be 15 only in view of the recent dlctum of the Apex Court in the case of Saria Verma (Smt) and Others Vs Delhi Transport Corporatlon and Another reported in (2009) 6 Supreme Court Cases 121, wherein multiplier of 15 was prescribed for the age group between 36-40 years: by muitiplying the annual dependency of Rs.24,000/- with the muttiplier of 15, the compensation works out to Rs.3,60,000/- only: by adding further sum of Rs.5,000/- towards funeral expenses; Rs.5,000/- for loss of estate; and Rs.5,000/- for loss of consortium to the widow, the claimants become entitled to receive a total sum of Rs.3,75,000/-, which is iess than the sum of Rs.4,00,000/- awarded by the Trlbunal as compensatlon to the ctaimants. 7) For the foregoing' reasons, we do not flnd any scope for enhancement of the compensatlon awarded by the Tribunal. 8) The appeal flled by the appetlants/clalmants for enhancement of the compensation, therefore, is liable to be dismissed and is hereby dismissed summariiy. Sd/- ChiefJustice Sd/- R.N.ChaKdrakas' nimmi