Narendra Singh and Others vs Hardeep Singh and Another

Rajeev Gupta, C.J.—The Appellants are seeking enhancement of the compensation awarded by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Rajnandgaon (for short ''the Tribunal'') vide award dated 14-7-2003, passed in Claim Case No. 114/2000.

As against the compensation of Rs. 8,67,600/- claimed by the Appellants/claimants, unfortunate parents and younger sister of deceased Anil Kumar Singh by filing a claim petition u/s 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act, for his death in the motor accident on 3-11-2009, the Tribunal awarded a total sum of Rs. 2,13,500/- as compensation along with interest @ 9% per annum from the date of the filing of the claim petition till the date of actual payment.

Shri Awadh Tripathi and Shri Sanjeev Banjare, learned Counsel for the Appellants vehemently argued that the Tribunal has erred in awarding low compensation of Rs. 2,13,500/- only.

Shri Dasarath Gupta, learned Counsel for Respondent No. 2 the National Insurance Company Limited on the other hand contended that the Tribunal has been quite liberal in awarding substantial amount of Rs. 2,13,500/-as compensation to the claimants.

The claimants cannot have any legitimate grievance about the assessment of the income of the deceased by the Tribunal at Rs. 1,850/- per month, as the salary certificate produced by them before the Tribunal established the salary of the deceased to the extent of Rs. 1,823/- per month only.

The Tribunal has been quite liberal in deducting less than 50% of the income of the deceased towards his personal expenses though the deduction in that behalf could have been to the extent of 50% of the income of the deceased in view of the recent dictum of the Apex Court in the case of Syed Basheer Ahamed and Others Vs. Mohd. Jameel and Another, .

The multiplier of 17 selected by the Tribunal is also on the higher side in view of the fact that the claimants are parents of the deceased and in view of the dictum of the Apex Court in the case of The Municipal Corporation of Greater Bombay Vs. Shri Laxman Iyer and Another, , wherein it was held that in those cases where the claimants are parents of the deceased, the multiplier should never exceed 10.

For the foregoing reasons, we do not find any scope for enhancement of the compensation either on account of the assessment of the income of the deceased, or the claimants'' dependency by the Tribunal, or the multiplier selected.

The appeal filed by the Appellants/claimants for enhancement of the compensation, therefore, is liable to be dismissed and is hereby dismissed.

No order as to costs.