National Insurance Company Ltd. vs Mangat Ram and Ors.

National Insurance Company Limited has preferred this appeal against award dated 05.06.2005 of Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, Jammu,

awarding an amount of Rs.5,18,000/ (Rupees five lakh eighteen thousand) to the dependents of one Gharo Devi, who had succumbed to the

injuries received by her while travelling in Mini Bus No. JK02E7249 on 07.11.2003 at Village Moti situated at Suchet Garh, R.S. Pura.

Mangat Ram, the husband, Miss Sunita Devi, the daughter and M/s Faryad Singh and Ajay Kumar, the sons of deceased Gharo Devi, filed

claim petition No.720 (Claims), for an amount of Rupees fourteen lakh, before the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, Jammu.

The claim petition was objected to by the appellant Insurance Company, which had sought and was accorded permission to contest the claim

on the grounds other than those available to an insurer under the Motor Vehicles Act 1988.

The claims tribunal framed following issues arising out of the pleadings of the parties:

Whether an accident took place on 7.11.2003 due to rash and negligent driving of offending vehicle (Mini Bus) No. JK02E7249 in the hands

of erring driver in which deceased Gharo Devi sustained fatal injuries? OPP

If Issue No.1 is proved in affirmative whether petitioners are entitled to the compensation; if so to what amount and from whom? OPP

Whether driver of offending vehicle at the time of accident was not holding a valid and effective driving licence? OPR1

Whether petition is not maintainable for nonjoinder of necessary party; if so which are necessary parties? OPR1

Relief.

Claimants examined Ajit Singh, Tarseem Lal and Devinder Singh, besides Mangat Ram, one of the claimants, as their witnesses. The appel lant,

on the other hand, did not lead any evidence to rebut the claim of the claimants and evidence produced in support thereof.

The Tribunal, vide award impugned in this appeal, awarded an amount of Rs.5,18,000/ (Rupees five lakh eighteen thousand) in favour of the

claimants/respondents.

Although, the claimants had produced evidence before the Claims Tribunal to the effect that the deceased was doing tailoring besides selling

milk, yet the Tribunal, did not choose to rely on the evidence of the claimants and preferred to rely on Lata Wadhwa and others v. State of Bihar

and others reported as 2001 ACJ1735, while assessing income of the deceased house wife at Rs.36,000/ (Rupees thirty six thousand) per annum.

Sh. Thakur, learned counsel for the appellant Insurance Company, submits that the claimants had not proved income of the deceased and that

the evidence produced by them was not worthy of credence and on that count the husband and children of the deceased could not be said to be

dependent on the earnings of the deceased.

He on the aforesaid submissions seeks setting aside of the impugned award.

S. Ajit Singh Azad, learned counsel for the claimants/respondents, on the other hand, submits that the claimants had proved to the hilt that the

deceased was a working women and the family was dependent on her earnings and in that view of the matter, the Tribunal had been penurious in

awarding requisite compensation to the claimants.

I have considered the submissions of learned counsel for the parties and gone through the records. '

The evidence produced by the claimants before the Tribunal has remained uncontroverted and unrebutted, in so far as, it proves that the

deceased Ghora Devi had been selling buffalo milk to the public besides augmenting the income of the family by doing stitching work.

The claimants had, however, not been able to prove with exactitude as to what was the actual income of the deceased at the time of her death.

Non proof of the exact amount which the deceased had been earning by selling milk and stitching clothes at the time of her death, should not,

however, disable the claimants from claiming compensation of the loss which they had suffered because of the deprivation of the income which the

deceased had been earning for the family.

I am, therefore, of the opinion that the present case should have been decided on the basis of income of the deceased, which she had been

getting by selling milk and doing stitching work.

The Tribunal has, however, adopted a safer course, relying on Lata Wadhwa's case (supra), where value of domestic services of the deceased

house wives had been assessed by Hon'ble Supreme Court of India at Rs.36,000/ per annum adding thereto a conventional amount of Rs.50,000/.

It would be advantageous to refer to the following paragraph of the judgment where their Lordships of the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India held as

follows:

So far as the deceased housewives are concerned, in the absence of any date and as the housewives were not earning any income, attempt

has been made to determine the compensation, on the basis of services rendered by them to the house. On the basis of the age group to the

housewives, appropriate multiplier has been applied, but the estimation of the value of services rendered to the house by the housewives, which has

been arrived at Rs. 12,000/ per annum in cases of some and Rs. 10,000/ for others, appears to us to be grossly low. It is true that the claimants,

who ought to have given datas for determination of compensation, did not assist in any manner by providing the datas for estimating the value of

services rendered by such housewives. But even in the absence of such datas and taking into consideration the multifarious services rendered by

the housewives for managing the entire family, even on a modest estimation, should be Rs.3,000/ per month and Rs.36,000/ per annum. This

would apply to all those housewives between the age group of 34 and 59 and as such who were active in life. The compensation awarded,

therefore, should be recalculated, taking the value of the services rendered per annum to be Rs.36,000/ and thereafter applying the multiplier, as

has been applied already and so far as the conventional amount is concerned, the same should be Rs.50,000/ instead of Rs.25,000/ given under

the report. So far as the elderly ladies are concerned, in the age group of 62 to 72, the value of the services rendered has been taken at Rs.

10,000/ per annum and the multiplier applied is eight. Though, the multiplier applied is correct, but the value of services rendered at Rs. 10,000/

per annum, cannot be held to be just and, we, therefore, enhance the same to Rs.20,0007per annum. In their case, therefore, the total amount of

compensation should be redetermined, taking the value of services rendered at Rs.20,000/ per annum and then after applying the multiplier, as

already applied and thereafter adding Rs.50,000/ towards the conventional figure.

The claimants have neither appealed against the finding of .the Claims Tribunal nor have they filed any cross appeal/cross objections and in this

view of the matter they have to remain satisfied with the award of the Claims Tribunal.

The finding of the Claims Tribunal and its award is fully covered by the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India in Lata Wadhwa's

case (supra) and in that view of the matter, I do not find any substance in the submissions of Sh. D.S. Thakur that the claimants had not proved the

exact income of the deceased and the claimants were not, thus, entitled to the awarded amount.

In view of the facts and circumstances of the present case, there was no ground for the appellant Insurance Company to have come up in

appeal to this Court when award of the Claims Tribunal was covered by the judgment of Hon'ble Supreme Court of India. The appellant Insurance

Company has unnecessarily dragged the claimants/respondents to this Court.

For all what has been said above, I do not find any merit in this appeal, which is, accordingly, dismissed but with costs quantified at Rs.5,000/

(Rupees five thousand).

The amount deposited in this Court minus the amount already received by the respondents/claimants shall be released in their favour by

Registrar Judicial of this Court in terms of the award along with the interest accrued thereon.