HON'BLE SHR! SUNSL KUWPK SiNHA, ^: 3 Madhav Prasad, son : of Shri Vishambhar Prasad Baani, aged about 55 years Smt Kailash Bai, wife of Shri IVIadhav Prsad Baani, aged about 50 years Smt Archana, wife of Shri Ashok Kesham'ani, aged about 28 years Atu! Kumar, aged about 6 years, son of Ashok Kesharw'ani (minor) Surabhi, aged about 4 years, son of Ashok Kesharwai (minor) Appel!ant No.4 and 5 are minors, through their natural guardian mother Smt Archana Baani (Appellant No.3) AII appellants r/o Baniyapara, Sarangarh Tahsil distt Raigarh (CG) ihuvneshv/ar Prassd, aged about 30 years, son of Shri Noormani Mehar, resident of vitlage Reda, Tah Sarangam, Distt Raigarh (Chhattisgarh) Narayan Prasad, son of Shri Mohit Ram Dewangan, resldent of Tah Sarangarh, Distt Raigarh (Chhattisgarh) The Oriental insurance; Company Limited, through : The Branch Manager, Itwari Bazar, Raigarh (CG) Motor Vehicles Act ir uniii iiwiiirt'imwmgfatitiKljKS! i." .:y 'ressnt : Shri Roshan Dubey, counsel for the appeilants. Shri Varunendra Mishra, counsei for respondent No.2. Shri GS Patel, counsel for respondent No.3. ith The following order of the Court was passed by seal for enhsncement of the Thls is claimants' compensation awarded by the Motor Accident Ciaims Tribunal, Rsigarh (for short 'the Tribunal') vide award dated 27.03.2004, passed in Claim Case No.63/1998. 2) As against the compensation of Rs.35,00,000/-, claimed by the appeliants/claimants, unfortunate widow, minor chiidren and parents of deceased Ashok Kumar Kesharv.'anl by fiiing a claim petition under Section 166 of the Motor Vshicles Act, for his death on 18.06.1998 on account of the injuries sustained by him in the motor aci-ident on 09.12.1997, the Tribunal awarded a total sum of Rs.6,69,000/- as compensation to the ciaimants along with interest @ 9% per annum from the date of the filing of the claim petition tiil ths date of actua! payment. 3) The Tribunai on a ciose scrutiny of the entire evidence led before it held that deceased As'nok Kumar Kesharwani died on 18.06.1998 on account ofthe injuries sustained by him in the motor accident on 09.12.1997; the accident occurred due to rash and negligent driving of the driver of the offending vehicle Jeep bearing ilililnntlllljlUUlMi 3 iitF-^i registration No.MP-26 E/5499; as the above offending vehlcle Jeep on the date of the accldent was insured v/ith the Oriental Insurance Company Limited, and the Insurance Company couid not establish any breach of the policy conditions, the insurance Company was iable to pay the compensation to the claimants. 4) The Tribunal assessed the income of the deceased at Rs.50,000/- per annum. By deducting about 1/3rd of Rs.50,000/- towards the persona! expenses of the deceased, the claimants' dependency was assessed at Rs.32,000/- per annum. sy multipiying the annuai dependency of Rs.32,000/- with the multipiier of 16, the compensation was worked out to Rs.5,12,000/-. By swarding further sum of Rs.1,00,000/- tov/ards medica! expenses; Rs.12,000/- towards attendant; Rs.25,000/- for loss of consortium to the widow, and pain and suffering to the parents; Rs.15,000/- towards loss of income of the deceased during the period of his treatment; Rs.5,000/- towards funera! expenses, the Tribunal awarded a total sum of Rs.6,69,000/- as compensation to the ciaimants for the dsath of deceased Ashok Kumar Kesharwani in the motor accident. The Tribuna! further directed payment of interest on the above amount of compensation of Rs.6,69,000/- @ 9% per annum from the date of filing of the ciaim petition till the date of actual payment. 5) Shri Roshan Dubey, learned counsel for the appellants vehemently argued that the Tribunal has erred in awarding low compensation of Rs.6,69,000/- only. :; ^^S31^^ i •^H-^^^aSf^^t^^ ^fr.*!/'d»*^kw^fi^ 4 6) Shri GS Patel, iearned counsel for respondent No.3 the Oriental Insurance Company Limited, on the other hand supported the award and contended that the compensation of Rs.6,69,000/- awarded by the Tribunal is just and proper compensation in the facts and circumstances ofthe present case. 7) Shri Varunendra Mishra, learned counsel for respondent No.2 Narayan Prasad, the owner oft'ne Jeep also supported the award. 3) The claimants cannot have any legitimate grievance about the assessment of the income of the deceased by the Tribuna! as in the claim petition they themselves pleaded the income of the deceased at Rs.50,000/- per annum and the Tribuns! has assessed the income of the deceased at Rs.50,000/-. 9) The claimants' dependency also has been rightiy assessed by the Tribunal by deducting the usualabout 1/3 of the sncome of the 10) Ccnsidering that deceased Ashok Kumar Kesharwani was stated to be 35 years of age in the claim petition itself, the mu!tip!ier of 16 selected by the Tribunal cannot be said to be on the iower side in vlew of the dictum of the Apex Court in the case of Sarla Verma another reported in (2009$ 6 Supreme Court Cases 121 wherein multiplier of 16 is prescribed forthe age group between 31-35 years. 11) We are satisfied that the Tribuna! has awarded just and proper sum towards the medical expenses, ioss of income during the period of treatment, and other permissible heads. itiiwcntuulitiji •frsas ^•^^^-S^A^I.S BEL.-.ialiuJ. oadma 12) For the foregoing reasons, we do not find any scope for enhancement of the compensation either on account of the assessment of the income of the deceased or the claimants' dependency by the Tribunal or the multiplier seiected. 13) The appeai filed by the appellants/claimants for enhancement of the compensation, fherefore, is iiable to be dlsmissed and is hereby dismissed. 14) No order as to costs. sd/- Chief Justice p. IN' Sd/- Sunil Kumar Sinha Judge