Lakhan Lal Sonwani and Others vs Baldish Singh and Another

Nawal Kishore Agarwal, J.—With the consent of the parties, the matter is heard finally. This is claimants'' appeal seeking enhancement of compensation awarded by the 6th Additional Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, Bilaspur (for short ''the Tribunal'') in Claim Case No. 43 of 11 vide award dated 24th March, 2012.

As against the compensation of Rs. 7,36,200/- claimed by the unfortunate parents and brothers of deceased - Shrawan Kumar Sonwani by filing application u/s 163-A of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (for short the Act'') for his death in the motor accident dated 11.03.2011, the Tribunal awarded a sum of Rs. 1,92,000/- as compensation along with interest at the rate of 7.5% per annum from the date of claim application till its actual payment.

The Tribunal, on a close scrutiny of the evidence led by the parties, held: Shrawan Kumar died on account of injuries sustained by him in an accident involving truck bearing registration No. C.G. 04/DA/3271 owned by respondent No. 1; the deceased was truck driver and died on account of injuries sustained by him; respondent No. 2, i.e. Reliance General Insurance Company Limited liable for payment of compensation as it could not establish any violation of policy conditions; assessed and awarded the aforesaid sum as compensation.

Shri Samir Singh, learned counsel appearing for the appellants would submit: the claim has been filed u/s 163-A of the Act; the deceased was aged about 29 years, therefore, the Tribunal should have awarded compensation by applying the multiplier of 18 and after deducting only 1/3rd of income of the deceased towards his personal and living expenses in terms of Second Schedule appended to Section 163-A of the Act.

On the other hand, Shri Sourabh Sharma, learned counsel appearing for respondent No. 2 supported the award impugned and submitted: in the facts and circumstances of the case, the amount of compensation awarded by the Tribunal is just and proper compensation, which does not call for interference.

I have heard learned counsel for the appellants and perused the award impugned including the record of the Tribunal.

Section 163-A of the Act provides special provisions as to payment of compensation on structured formula basis. Under the above provision, the claimants are entitled to get compensation strictly in accordance with Second Schedule appended to Section 163-A of the Act. The deceased was aged about 29 years, therefore, the Tribunal has fallen in error in not assessing the amount of compensation by applying the multiplier of 18. The Tribunal has further erred in deducting half of the income of the deceased in place of 1/3rd towards his personal and living expenses. Therefore, I propose to recompute the amount of compensation.

After deducting 1/3rd of income of the deceased towards his personal and living expenses, the appellants/claimants'' annual dependency is assessed as Rs. 24,000/-. By multiplying the appellants'' annual dependency of Rs. 24,000/- with the multiplier of 18, the appellants would become entitled for, Rs. 4,32,000/- on account of loss of dependency. The claimants are further entitled for Rs. 2,000/- for funeral expenses and Rs. 2,500/- towards loss of estate and thus the appellants/claimants are entitled a total sum of Rs. 4,36,500/- as compensation for the death of Shrawan Kumar in the motor accident.

For the reasons mentioned hereinabove, the appeal is allowed in part. The amount of compensation of Rs. 1,92,000/- is enhanced to Rs. 4,36,500/- i.e. Rs. 2,44,500/- over and above the amount of compensation as awarded by the Tribunal. The above enhanced amount of Rs. 2,44,500/- shall carry interest at the rate of 6% per annum from the date of application till its actual payment. The award is modified to the above extent. Rest of the conditions of the award shall remain intact. No order as to costs.