Case: Subbulakshmi V. and Ors Vs. S. Lakshmi and Anr

2. First respondent is the owner of a bus. Allegedly, owing to rash and negligent driving by the driver of the said vehicle, an accident took place wherein one Vadivelu, the predecessor in interest of the appellants died.3. An application under Section 166 of the Act claiming compensation for a sum of Rs.25 lakhs was filed by the appellants in the Court of Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal (Additional District Judge-cum-Chief Judicial Magistrate, Karur). A written statement was filed by the Insurance Company in the said proceedings. The same was adopted by the owner of the vehicle. Before the Tribunal, the appellants produced some documents to show that the income of the deceased was about 12,500/- per month. He is said to have been deriving income both as an agriculturist as also from his business as commission agent in the business of coconut.4. The Tribunal, inter alia, keeping in view the fact that the Income Tax Returns were filed only after the death of the said Vadivellu, estimated at Rs. 9,600/- per month. The High Court, however, estimated the income of the deceased to be around a sum of Rs. 4,000/- per month, from his agricultural operation and Rs. 3,000/- from his commission business, totalling a sum of Rs. 7,000/- per month and upon deducting 1/3rd thereof from the amount towards his personal expenses, the High Court held that his contribution to his family would come to about of Rs. 4,667/- per month. Applying the multiplier of 18, the loss of income was assessed at Rs. 10,08,072/-, instead and in place of Rs. 13,82,400/- as was found by the Tribunal.5. Appellant is, thus, before us.

Court's reasoning:
The maintainability of an appeal by the Insurance Company together with the owner of the vehicle came up for consideration before this Court in Narendra Kumar and Another Vs. Yarenissa and Others [(1998) 9 SCC 202] , wherein it was clearly held that an appeal by the owner of the vehicle is maintainable despite the fact that in terms of an Award, he is to be reimbursed by the insuranceFor the reasons stated above, we are of the opinion that even in the case of a joint appeal by insurer and owner of offending vehicle if an award has been made against the tortfeasors as well as the insurer even though an appeal filed by the insurer is not competent, it may not be dismissed as such. The tortfeasor can proceed with the appeal after the cause-title is suitably amended by deleting the name of the insurer.In the instant case, the owner of the bus was an aggrieved person. He could maintain an appeal of his own. Section 173 of the Act confers a right on any aggrieved person to prefer an appeal from an award.this case, the appeal preferred by the Insurance Company has been dismissed. The High Court has only entertained the appeal of thethe present case, it is not necessary for us to go into the larger question as to whether having regard to the bar contained in sub-Section (2) of Section 149 of the Act, the second respondent could have preferred an appeal questioning the quantum of compensation, as the High Court held that the appeal, even after deletion of the second respondent from the array of the parties, the appeal preferred by the first respondent wasfar as the question in regard to the quantum of compensation awarded in favour of the appellants is concerned, we are of the opinion that the High Court has taken into consideration all the relevant evidences brought on record. The accident took place on 7.5.1997. Income tax returns were filed on 23.6.1997. The Income Tax Returns (Exp. P-14), therefore, have rightly not been relied upon. Ex.P-8 is a deed of lease. It was an unregistered document. Although the document was purported to have been executed on 10.4.1993, the genuineness thereof was open to question. The stamp paper was purchased in the year 1983 but an interpolation was made therein to show that it was purchased in 1993. The purported receipts granted by the tenant were alsothe aforementioned fact situation, the High Court has not relied upon all the aforementioned documents, filed by the appellant. It may be true that there was no basis for the High Court to arrive at the conclusion that the income of the deceased was Rs.4,000/- from agricultural operation and Rs. 3,000/- from his commission business, but no reliable document having been produced to show that the deceased was earning an income of Rs.12,500/- per month, as claimed. The High Court, in our opinion, cannot be held to have, thus, committed any grave error in this behalf. There is no dispute as regards application of the multiplier. In a case of this nature, some guess work is inevitable. This Court could have gone into the question provided there was some materials had been brought on record by the appellants upon which reliance could be placed. There being no such material available on record, we are not in a position to interfere with the impugned judgment of the High Court.