Besant Singh (Maharath) and Another vs Love Kumar Kewat and Others

Rajeev Gupta, C.J.—Shri Vikas Pradhan, learned counsel for the appellants is heard on admission.

The appellants are seeking enhancement of the compensation awarded by the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, Raigarh (for short ''the Tribunal'') vide award dated 28.01.2010, passed in claim Case No.02 of 2009.

AS against the compensation of Rs.46,35,000/- claimed by the appellants /claimants, unfortunate parents of deceased Vijay Singh, by filing a claim petition u/s 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act, for his death in the motor accident on 07.11.2008, The Tribunal awarded a total sum of Rs.2,45,000/- as compensation along with interest @ 8% per annum form the date of filing of the claim petition till the date of actual payment.

Shri Vikas Pradhan, learned counsel for the appellants vehemently argued that the Tribunal has erred in not accepting the claimants'' evidence about the income of the deceased and in assessing his income at Rs.30,000/-per annum only; in selecting the lower multiplier of 10; and in awarding low compensation of Rs.2,45,000/- only.

True, the claimants pleaded that their son deceased Vijay Singh used to earn Rs. 1,20,000/- per annum by plying a Truck, no documentary evidence was produced before the Tribunal to establish that the deceased even owned a Truck. In this state of evidence, we do not fined any fault in the approach of the Tribunal in discarding the claimants'' evidence about the income of the deceased and in assessing his income on its own estimate.

The Tribunal has been quite liberal in deduction only 1/3rd of the income of the deceased towards his personal expenses though the deduction in that behalf could have been to the extent of 50% of the income of the deceased in view of the dictum of the Apex Court in the case of Syed Basheer Ahamed and Others Vs. Mohd. Jameel and Another, .

The multiplier of 10 selected by the Tribunal cannot be found fault with in view of the fact that the claimants are parents of the deceased and in view of the dictum of the Apex Court in the case of The Municipal Corporation of Greater Bombay Vs. Shri Laxman Iyer and Another, wherein it was held that in those cases where the claimants are parents of the deceased, the multiplier should never exceed 10.

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 selected.

The appeal filed by the appellants/ claimants for enhancement of the compensation, therefore, is liable to be dismissed and is hereby dismissed summarily.