The New India Insurance Company Limited, through Branch Manager, Branch Office, Madina Building, Jail Road, Raipur, Tahsii and 'distt. Raipur C.G. _ a The flowing order i ol jeev Gupa, .J. Ra t C This is claimants’ ORDER (15"‘ Aprir, 2011) of the Court was passed by Insurer of the alleged Vehicle Hero Honda, bearing No. C.G.04— C.E.3186. F APPEAL UNDER SECTION 173 OF THE MOTOR VEHICLES ACT > Prnt: ' Shri R. Pradhan and Smt. Sashi Bareth, counSel for :ese the appellants. Nqne for respondents No. 1 and 2. Shri Shree Kumar Agrawal, Senior Counsel with Shri nand Gupta, counsel for respondent No.3. appeal for enhancement of the oknensation awarded by the 12‘“ Additional Motor Accident Claims Triunal, Raipur (for short ‘the Tribunal’) vide award dated 0.08.2005, passed in Claim Case No.02/2004. 2) As against the compensation of Rs.7,25,000/- claimed by th ppellants] claimants, unfortunate husband and minor children deceas’ed Romti @ Neera Bai, by filing a claim petition under Sio 166 of e Motor VehiCles Act, for her death in the motor accident on 28.02.2004, the Tribunal awarded a total sum of i i ‘ i a VA_‘. i _‘ l 8 MEMORANDUM O A ’ lcp b E e a ‘ of ectn th >' ‘ R.1,6,000/— as compenatin along with interest @ 6% per anu from e date of filing of the clm petition tili the date of , cal yt atu pamen ) rina ti ti VId d 3 The Tbul on a close scruny of the enre eence le bfo t held tha decead oti @ Neera Bai di on account of injuris ustained by her in the motor cident on 28.0.2004; t accent occurred due to rash and negligen driving of the morlis o din hic c ri reistio NC.Q06 di hic he d th n w ompany Limited and the insurance Compa could not establish y brach of th poy conn the Insuranc Compa was ble o pa cmpensan to the cant lia t y otio laims 4 As t reondents have not ed any apal against he 5 he sp fil pe t ard the above findings rerded by the rial have now aw co Tbug aain ality tted fn ) Th Tribunal assessed the ince of the deceased at 1 000/— per annum on the bass of the notional income rescbed n the Second chedue uder Section 163—A of the M hi A uc “ he otor Vecles ct. By dedting 1/3 of Rs.15,000/- towards t ersonl exenses of the eceasd, the claimants dependency as assessed at Rs.10,00— per annum. By multiplying the annual endency of 10,000/- with the multiplier f 16, the opensan as ored out'o Rs.1,60,0/—. By. awarding urther su of Rs 000/— under oer heads, the Trbunal arded V " l a otcyct f the offeng vele Motorcyle beang gtran o..4—C.E.318, as the above offenng vele Motorcycle on t ate of e accident was isured with the Ne India Insurance C ny an e e lic ditios e ny s8 so nm th ai ere i t se Rm ed the e s ac 2 he id t é e om “ l Rs 5 i pri i Sl n pa p de “ w 0/ dpe Rs o l cmtio w wk t 00 f m .8 th i aw a total sum of Rs.1,68,000/— as compensation to the claimants for the death of deceased Romti @ Neera Bai in the motor accident. The Tribunal further directed payment of interest on the above amount of compensation of Rs.1,68,000/— @ 6% per annum from the date of filing of the claim petition tiii the date of actual payment. [ 6) Shri R. Pradhan and Smt. Sashi Bareth,’iearned counsel for i the appellants submitted that the Tribunal has erred in not l iV' l accepting the claimants’ evidence about the income of the ‘ deceased and in assessing her income at Rs.15,000l— per annum l . i only; and in awarding low compensation of Rs.1 ,68,000/— only. 7) Shri Shree Kumar Agrawal, learned Senior Counsel with Shri . Anand Gupta, learned counsel for respondent No.3, the New India l Insurance Company Limited, on the other hand, supported the ‘ award and contended that the' compensation of Rs.1,68,000/— awarded by the Tribunal is just and proper compensation in the t facts and circumstances of the present case. 8) True, the claimants pleaded that deceased Romti @ Neera' l Bai used to earn Rs.100/— per day, the evidence led in that behalf ‘ was not of clinching nature. We, therefore, do not nnd any fault in ‘ the approach of the Tribunal in discarding the claimants’ evidence about the income of the deceased. l l g 9) Nevertheless, the income of the deceased assessed by the l Tribunal at Rs.15,0007— per annum in the year 2004 is certainly on the lower side and requires reconsideration. f10) Considering that deceased Romti @ Neera Bai, was aged about 40 years, on the date of the accident and the fact that in the villages labour may no‘t be getting work for seven days a week for wt]ole of the year, we deem it proper to assess the income of the deceased at Rs.18,000/— per annum. We, therefore, propose to re—compute the compensation taking the income of the deceased at Rs.18,000/- per annum. . 1t) By deducting the usual 1/3'“ of Rs.18,000l— towards the personal expenses of the deceased, the claimants’ dependency is assessed at Rs.12,000/- per annum. 12) Considering that deceased Romti @ Neera Bai was shown to be 40 years of age in her postmortem report, we are of the opinion that multiplier of 15 is appropriate in the present case in ‘ View of the dictum of the Apex Court in the case of Sarla Verma (Smt) and Others Versus Delhi Transport Corporation and another, reported in (2009) 6 SCC 121, wherein multiplier of 15 has been prescribed for the age group between 36—40 years. 13)‘ By multiplying the annual dependency of Rs.12,000/— with the multiplier of 15 the compensation works out to Rs.1,80,000/-. by awarding further sum of Rs.5,000l— towards funeral expenses; l Rs 5 OOOI— for loss of estate and Rs 5 OOOI— for loss of consortium :to the husband the claimants become entitled to receive a total sum of Rs 1 95 OOOI- as compensation for the death of deceased Romti @ Neera Bar in the motor accident 1" l l i l l l i 14) The claimants are awarded further sum of Rs.3,00.0/- towards quantified amount of interest on the enhanced amount of compensation of Rs.27,000/-. 15) For the foregoing reasons, the appeal filed by the appellantsl cla mants for enhancement of the compensation is allowed in part. The compensation of Rs.1,68,000/— awarded by the Tribunal is enhanced to Rs.1 ,95,000/- with further quantmed amount of interest K . l of l§s.3,000/— on the enhanced amount of compensation of Rsi27,000/-. 16): Respondent No.3 the New India Insurance Company Limited ' is granted three months’ time for depositing the total sum of Rs(30,000l- (Rs.27,000/— towards enhanced amount of corj‘npensation + Rs.3,000/— towards quantified amount of interest onlthe enhanced amount of compensation of Rs.27,000/—) before the concerning Claims Tribunal. ta J: i -, 17p No order as to costs. W /._;J i/ Sdl‘ V w Sd/- ’w‘ sumiKumar Si??? ‘ CHIEF JUSTICE ‘ i ‘ ‘- “fig“ g