THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE C.V. NAGARJUNA REDDY M.A.C.M.A. NO. 2747 OF 2006 DATE: 16-02-2010 BETWEEN: Lalagari Venkata Subba Rao S/o. L.V.Subbayya And another … Appellants/ Petitioners and V.Venkataratnam, S/o. Father’s name not known and another … Respondents/Respondents THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE C.V. NAGARJUNA REDDY M.A.C.M.A.NO.2747 OF 2006 JUDGMENT: This appeal arises out of award dated 01.11.2006 in M.V.O.P.No.335 of 2005 on the file of the Motor Vehicle Accidents Claims Tribunal, Vijayawada (for short ‘the Tribunal’). The claimants in the O.P. are the appellants in this appeal. The appeal is filed herein aggrieved by the inadequacy of compensation awarded for the death of the son of the appellants by name Lalagari Venkata Sai Praveen. The facts leading to the occurrence of accident need not be dealt with since there is no dispute regarding the finding on the issue of rash and negligent driving of the bus belonging to Respondent No.1 and insured with Respondent No.2. The only dispute raised in this appeal pertains to the quantum of compensation awarded by the Tribunal. Before the Tribunal, the case of the appellants is that the deceased, who was 26 years of age and unmarried completed B.Com. degree and master’s diploma in Computer Applications and that he was earning Rs.500/- to Rs.600/- per day by doing fish and prawn business. Though the appellants have filed Ex.A5 comprising two certificates issued by two persons by name V.Krishna Prasad and S.Krishna Rao, showing that the deceased was purchasing fish from them, the said documents were discarded by the Tribunal on the ground that the said two persons, who are stated to have issued the two certificates, were not examined by the appellants. In the absence of any proof available on record with regard to the income earned by the deceased at the time of his death, the Tribunal has taken the notional income at Rs.18,000/- per annum and after deducting 1/3rd towards his personal expenses and maintenance, it has taken Rs.12,000/- per annum as the contribution for the family. The Tribunal has adopted ‘11’ as multiplier and assessed Rs.1,32,000/- towards the loss, financial support and dependency. The Tribunal granted a sum of Rs.2,500/- towards funeral expenses and Rs.2,500/- towards loss of estate of the deceased. 2. At the hearing, Sri V. Padmanabha Rao, learned counsel for the appellants contended that even in the absence of evidence regarding the income of the deceased, the Tribunal ought to have taken into account at least Rs.100/- per day, which was the minimum wage. In my considered opinion, as there was no evidence on the income of the deceased, the Tribunal has made a reasonable assessment of the income, which the deceased would have earned. Mere fact that the deceased was a graduate and also holding master’s diploma in computer applications, will not by itself warrant a presumption that he would have been earning income. It is not the case of the claimants that the deceased was working as a daily labourer and therefore, the concept of minimum wages had no application to this case. 3. In Sarala Verma (Smt) and others Vs. Delhi Transport Corporation and another[1] while explaining its earlier judgments in Kerala SRTC v. Susamma Thomas[2], U.P.S.RTC v. Trilok Chandra[3] a n d Charlie’s case[4] the Supreme Court held that in case of unmarried persons, 50% of the assessed income should be deducted towards their personal expenditure and the balance 50% should be treated as contribution to the family. In the instant case, the Tribunal has deducted only 1/3rd of the amount towards personal expenses. As no appeal is filed by the insurance company, it is not possible to interfere with the award. Even if higher income is assessed, if 50% of the amount is deducted as held by the Supreme Court, the appellants will not be entitled to more compensation than what has been awarded by the Tribunal. 4. In this view of the matter, I do not find any error in the award passed by the Tribunal. The appeal is accordingly dismissed. No order as to costs. __________________________ C.V. NAGARJUNA REDDY, J. Dt: 16-02-2010 Rns [1] (2009) 6 SCC 121 [2] (1994) 2 SCC 176 [3] (1996) 4 SCC 362 [4] (2005) 10 SCC 720