Lata Bai and Others vs Jaswant Singh and Others

Rajeev Gupta, C.J.

This is claimants'' appeal for enhancement of the compensation awarded by the Additional Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Balod, District Drug (for short "the Tribunal") vide, award dated 20.09.2001, passed in Claim Case No. 15/2000.

The claimants, unfortunate widow and minor daughters of deceased Taturam Sinha Claimed compensation of Rs. 26,40,800/- by filing a claim petition u/s 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act (for short "the Act"), for his death in the motor accident on 25.12.1999 when his bicycle was dashed by the offending vehicle-Bus, bearing registration No. MBY-0747, resulting in his instantaneous death on the sport itself. The claimants further pleaded that deceased Taturam Sinha was aged about 32 years and used to earn Rs. 300-400 per day by running a hotel.

The owner of the offending vehicle - Bus did not contest the claim and was proceeded ex parte before the Tribunal.

The driver and the insurer of the offending vehicle -Bus contested the claim and denied their liability to pay compensation to the claimants. The insurer of the Bus took the plea that the Bus was being plied in breach of the policy conditions and the driver of the Bus was not holding a valid driving licence.

The claimants examined AW -1 Smt. Lata Bai and AW - 2 Kejauram in support of their claim, whereas the driver and insurer of the offending vehicle - Bus did no examine any witness in rebuttal.

The Tribunal on a close scrutiny of the evidence led before it held that deceased Taturam Sinha died on account of the injuries sustained by him in the motor accident on 25.12.1999; the accident occurred due to rash and negligent driving of the driver of the offending vehicle - Bus; as the offending vehicle - Bus, on the date of the accident, was insured with the National Insurance Company Limited, the Insurance Company was liable to pay compensation to the claimants.

The Tribunal assessed the income of the deceased at Rs. 1,000/- per month and Rs. 12,000/- per annum. By deducting 1/3rd of Rs. 1,000/- towards the personal expenses of the deceased, the claimants'' dependency was assessed at Rs. 600/- per month, (by rounding off the figure Rs. 666/-)and Rs. 7,200/-per annum. By multiplying the annual dependency of Rs. 7,200/- with the multiplier of 12, the compensation was worked out to Rs. 86,400/-. By awarding further sum of Rs. 22,000/- under other heads, the Tribunal awarded a total sum of Rs. 1,08,400/- as compensation to the claimants for the death of deceased Taturam Sinha in the motor accident. The Tribunal further directed payment of interest @ 9% per annum on the above amount of compensation of Rs. 1,08,400/- from the date of filing of the claim petition till the date of actual payment.

Shri Hemant Solapurkar, learned Counsel for the Appellants submitted that the Tribunal has erred in not accepting the claimants'' evidence about the income of the deceased and in assessing his income at Rs. 1,000/- per month only; in selecting the lower multiplier of 12; and in awarding the low compensation of Rs. 1,08,400/- only.

Shri Sanjay K. Agrawal and Shri Sourabh Sharma, learned Counsel for Respondent No. 3 - The National Insurance Company Limited, on the other hand, supported the impugned award and submitted that as the claimants could not establish the income of the deceased as was pleaded by them, the compensation of Rs. 1,08,400/- awarded by the Tribunal is just and proper compensation in the facts and circumstances of the present case.

The findings recorded by the Tribunal that deceased Taturam Sinha died on account of the injuries sustained by him in the motor accident on 25-12-1999; the accident occurred due to rash and negligent driving of the driver of the offending vehicle - Bus; and the insurer of the offending vehicle - Bus was liable to pay compensation to the claimants, have now attained finality as the Respondents have not filed any appeal against the award. That apart, there is overwhelming evidence available on record to establish the above facts beyond any shadow of doubt. We, therefore, affirm the above findings recorded by the Tribunal.

In a motor accident claim case, what is important is that the compensation to be awarded by the Courts/Tribunal should be just and proper compensation in the facts and circumstances of the case. It should neither be a meager amount of compensation nor a bonanza.

Now, we shall examine as to whether the compensation of Rs. 1,08,400/-awarded by the Tribunal is just and proper compensation in the facts and circumstances of the present case.

True, the claimants pleaded that deceased - Taturam Sinha used to earn Rs. 300-400 per day by running a hotel, the evidence led by the claimants in that behalf was not of clinching nature. We, therefore, do not find any fault in the approach of the Tribunal in discarding the claimants'' evidence about the income of the deceased.

Nevertheless, the income of the deceased assessed by the Tribunal at Rs. 1,000/- per month is certainly on the lower side. The Tribunal while discarding the claimants'' evidence about the income of the deceased ought to have assessed the income of the deceased on the basis of the notional income prescribed in the Second Schedule u/s 163A of the Act.

The notional income of Rs. 15,000/- was prescribed in the Second Schedule u/s 163A of the Act in the year 1994. The accident in the present case took place in the year 1999. If the increase in the prices of the essential commodities and the cost of living during the period between 1994 to 1999 is taken into consideration, the notional income of Rs. 15,000/-prescribed in the year 1994 would come to Rs. 24,000/- in the year 1999. We, therefore, propose to re-compute the compensation by taking the income of the deceased at Rs. 24,000/- per annum.

By deducting 1/3rd of Rs. 24,000/- towards personal expenses of the deceased, the claimants'' dependency is assessed at Rs. 16,000/- per annum.

Deceased - Taturam Sinha was shown 32 years of age in the postmortem report. His widow - Claimant No. 1 - Lata Bai was about 30 years of age on the date of the accident. Considering the age of the deceased and his widow, we are of the opinion that the multiplier of 13 would be appropriate in the present case in view of the dictum of the Apex Court in the case of The New India Assurance Company Limited Vs. Smt. Kalpana and Others, , wherein the multiplier of 13 was found appropriate where the age of the deceased was 33 years.

By multiplying the annual dependency of Rs. 16,000/- with the multiplier of 13, the compensation works out to Rs. 2,08,000/-. The claimants are further entitled to a sum of Rs. 10,000/- towards funeral expenses; loss of consortium to the widow; and loss of estate. Thus, the claimants become entitled to receive a total sum of Rs. 2,18,000/- as compensation for the death of deceased - Taturam Sinha in the motor accident.

Considering all the relevant factors including the delay in disposal of the claim petition and the present appeal and the fact that the Insurance Company alone is not to be blamed, for the delay in the matter, we quantify the amount of interest payable to the claimants on the enhanced amount of compensation at Rs. 15,400/-.

For the foregoing reasons, the appeal filed by the Appellants/ claimants for enhancement of the compensation is allowed in part. The compensation of Rs. 1,08,400/- awarded by the Tribunal is enhanced to Rs.

2,18,000/- with further quantified amount of interest of Rs. 15,400/- on the enhanced amount of compensation.

Respondent No. 3 - the National Insurance Company Limited is granted three months time for depositing the total sum of Rs. 1,25,000/- (Rs. 1,09,600/- towards enhanced amount of compensation + Rs. 15,400/- towards quantified amount of interest on the enhanced amount of compensation) before the concerning Claims Tribunal.

No order as to costs.