Brijmohan Mali vs Yusuf Khan

Shri Anurag Shrivastava, J.—Having lost a child of seven years in a vehicular accident, the appellants had filed a claim petition before the Fifth Member, Additional Motor Accident Claims, Tribunal, Bhopal in claim Case No.2583/2006. By award dated 30.07.2007 the learned Tribunal had granted a compensation of Rs.1,68,000/- to the appellants. However, the appellants have filed the present appeal under Section 173 of Motor Vehicle Act, 1988 for enhancement.

The brief facts of the case are that on 06.10.2006 at about 1:30 P.M noon deceased Nikhil Kumar alias Abhishek aged about 7 years was returning from school a bus bearing registration No. M.P-04-HB-9297 being driven rashly and negligently came and hit the deceased. The deceased sustained grievous injuries, he was rushed to the hospital where he died. Therefore, the appellants who are mother, father, brother and sister filed a claim petition for award of compensation to the tune of Rs.25,25,000/- against driver, owner and insurance company. In order to buttress their case, they examined appellant No.1 father of the deceased as eye witness and submitted certain documents. After going through the oral and the documentary evidence, the learned Tribunal granted the compensation as aforementioned. Hence this appeal.

Learned counsel for the appellants has contended that the learned Tribunal has taken notional income very low into account while calculating the compensation, loss of future income and loss of love and affection has not properly been calculated. The rate of interest is also on lower side, therefore, awarding a compensation is liable to be enhanced.

On the other hand, learned counsel for insurance Company submits that there is no mistake, in awarding a compensation committed by the learned Tribunal. As the deceased is aged about 7 years, who has apparently no income, therefore, the amount of compensation awarded is sufficient and no enhancement is required.

Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the record.

It is not disputed that the deceased was aged about 7 years at the time of incident. He was studying in school. The Tribunal has taken notional income of the deceased as Rs.15,000/- per annum and calculated the compensation.

Hon''ble Apex Court in case law Kishan Gopal and another v. Lala (2014) 1 SCC 244, while dealing with the death of 10 years old child took the notional income as 30,000/- per annum, considering the prevailing inflation rate. In case law Sarla Verma v. Delhi Transport Corporation 2009 A.C.J. 1298 in case of death of child, Hon''ble Apex Court directed to adopt the multiplier on the age of mother of the child. In the case law Lata Wadhwa and others v. State of Bihar (2001) 8 SCC 197, Hon''ble Apex Court awarded the compensation of Rs.2,00,000/- for the death of child of 5-10 years of age.

Therefore, considering the aforesaid case laws and facts and circumstances of present case and the date of incident, in my opinion, the appropriate compensation should be Rs. 2,50,000/- (Rupees Two Lakh Fifty Thousand only).

Thus, the compensation awarded by the Tribunal is enhanced to Rs. 2,50,000 - 1,68,000= 82,000/-.

The Insurance Company is directed to deposit enhanced amount along with an interest of 7% per annum from the date of filing of this appeal.

The appeal is hereby allowed.