Gracy vs Varghese

T.R. Ramachandran Nair, J.—The appellants are aggrieved by the quantum of compensation fixed by the Tribunal below. As against the claim of Rs. 15 lakhs, the amount awarded by the Tribunal is Rs. 5,30,500/-.

Claimants are the dependents of the deceased Sri Gladison, who died in a motor accident while he was riding a Motorcycle bearing Reg. No. KL-8/AJ 1796 on 13.08.2009 at 8.45 p.m through Potta Irinjalakjuda public road, when the offending vehicle bearing Reg. No. KL-7/AA 3368 driven by its driver came in a rash and negligent manner and hit upon the motorcycle. He sustained serious injuries and immediately he was taken to the Government Hospital, Chalakkiudy, but on the way to the hospital, he succumbed to the injuries.

The Tribunal has found negligence on the part of the driver of the offending vehicle. We heard the learned counsel for the appellants and the learned counsel for the 2nd respondent Insurance Company. Since there is a complete coverage in the policy, notice was not necessary to be issued to the 1st respondent owner. Hence we proceeded to hear the appeal.

The learned counsel for the appellant mainly submitted that the deceased was conducting a Medical Shop and his monthly income was Rs. 10,000/-, but the Tribunal has taken only Rs. 3,500/- as his income. Ext. A5 is the copy of the Drug License. Exts. A6 to A11 are the turnover details from 14.03.2009 to 24.08.2009. Ext. A12 is the driving license of the deceased. Ext. A13 is the Pan Card and Ext. A14 is the Family Membership Certificate. Ext. A16 is the certificate issued by the Commercial Tax Officer. It is submitted that Exts. A6 to A11 will show that the turnover was Rs. 2.5 lakhs per month. PWs 1 and 2 have been examined by the claimants.

The Tribunal did not accept the said turnover for the reason that the wife is now doing the business. It is submitted by the learned counsel that actually the business stopped for two years and she has restarted it as her own. Therefore, it cannot be a case where any reduction can be made for the said reason and the contribution which was being made by the deceased to the family, will have to be assessed fairly.

Apart from the same it is submitted that towards love and affection for the 3 minor children Rs. 25,000/- alone has been granted and for loss of estate nothing has been granted.

The Tribunal has quantified the amount in the following manner:

In the light of the fact that the deceased was conducting the Medical Shop with good turnover and profits and also in the light of Ext. A16 certificate issued by the Commercial Tax Officer, Chalakkudy, the Tribunal ought to have fixed a reasonable amount as his monthly income. Further the services of the deceased to his family will have to be valued and a contribution accordingly will have to be fixed. In the light of the documents available, the amount fixed as monthly income is too low considering the business income and the valuable services being rendered by him to the family. It will only be reasonable if we fix Rs. 7,500/- as the monthly income. 13 is the multiplier adopted by the Tribunal. The loss of dependency will have to be calculated accordingly. Apart from the same, the claimants include 3 minor children as on the date of the accident. Therefore, going by the various judgments of the Apex Court, towards loss of love and affection, Rs. 1 lakh has to be granted. For pain and suffering and for loss of estate also nothing has been granted. Instead of Rs. 20,000/- being granted under the head `the Life Expectancy of the deceased'', we will make it as an award under `loss of estate''. Accordingly we refix the compensation in the following manner:

(Rupees Ten lakhs fifty one thousand and five hundred only).

The appellants will also be entitled to interest @ 9% per annum from the date of petition till realisation. Proportionate costs have also been ordered by the Tribunal. All other directions in the order of the Tribunal with regard to the deposit of amount and disbursal to various claimants are maintained. There will be a direction to the Insurance Company to deposit the compensation amount within three months. No costs.