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Judgment
Admittedly, Petu Sardar alias Lakhiram Sardar, son of Binod Sardar, a twenty years'' old boy, who was a bachelor, died in a motor accident on 12.3.1992. His parents, brothers and sisters filed an application for compensation u/s 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.
The tribunal on the basis of evidence on record calculated annual dependency at Rs. 8400/-, after deducting 1/3rd of his income towards his personal expense and applied 8 multiplier thereto. In our opinion, that was not the appropriate multiplier.
Following ratio of the decision of Apex Court in General Manager, Kerala State Road Transport Corporation, Trivandrum Vs. Mrs. Susamma Thomas and others, , inour opinion, the appropriate multiplier was atleast 10. Consequently, amount of compensation is calculated at Rs. 84,000/-.
If this amount is kept in term Deposit in a Nationalised Bank, it would fetch interest equal to the aforesaid amount of annual dependency.
The tribunal has granted interest @12% per annum, payable from the date of claim application till payment. Applying ratio of a recent decision of Apex Court in Smt. Kaushnuma Begum v. New India Assurance Company Limited 2001 (1) JLJR 322, we reduce it to 9% per annum.
Amount of compensation and interest already received by claimants shall be deducted/adjusted at final calculation on the basis of this orders, whereby compensation amount has been enhanced from Rs. 72,000/- to Rs. 84,000/- and rate of interest has been reduced from 12% to 9%.
This appeal is disposed of with above modification in the impugned judgment and award. Let lower court records be sent down.