Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation vs Resham Devi And Ors

This appeal has been preferred by the Insurance Company against the judgment and award dated 22.01.2018 passed by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Alwar (for short 'the Tribunal'), whereby, the tribunal awarded a sum of Rs.8,63,800/ as compensation along with interest @ 6% per annum from the date of filing of the claim petition.

Learned counsel for the appellant has submitted that the tribunal committed an error in awarding compensation on the higher side. The income of the deceased was assessed at higher rate. It is also submitted that the FIR of the accident had been lodged with a delay and the same was not explained by the claimants. Thus, it is clear that the offending bus was wrongly involved in the accident. In this regard, the driver of the bus was examined, who categorically stated that no accident was caused by him. The learned tribunal has failed to consider the evidence of the driver of the bus in right perspective.

I have considered the rival submissions made by the learned counsel for the appellants and have perused the material available on record.

The claim-petition was filed by the appellants praying for compensation on account of death of Arjun Lal in a motor vehicle accident which occurred on 19.12.2014. So far as the submission of the learned counsel for the appellant is concerned with regard to delay in filing the FIR, I find no substance in the a same.

The accident was occurred on 19.12.2014 at 6.15 P.M. The post-mortem of the deceased was conducted on 20.12.2014 and FIR was lodged on the same date. Additionally, Lala Ram (AW-2), who was an eye witness of the accident was examined by the claimants, proved the factum of the accident and also proved that the bus was being driven by its driver in rash and negligent manner.

The tribunal assessed the income of the deceased as Rs.4,200/- per month i.e. Rs.50,400 per annum. However, at the relevant time, prevalent rate of minimum wages fixed by the State was Rs.4,914/- per month i.e. Rs.58,968/- per annum. Therefore, annual income of the deceased is liable to be assessed as Rs.58,968/-. As the deceased was aged about 38 years, therefore, in view of the judgment of Hon'ble Apex Court in National Insurance Company Limited Vs. Pranay Sethi & Ors., reported in AIR 2017 SC 5157, an addition of 40% is liable to be added towards future prospect of the deceased, which comes to Rs.23,587/-. Thus, the income of the deceased assessed by the tribunal as Rs.82,555/- (58,968+23,587). Keeping in view of number of dependents, one fourth is liable to be deducted towards personal expenses of the deceased. As the deceased was aged about 38 years at the time of accident, therefore, multiplier of 15 would be applied to work out the dependency of the claimants. In this way, compensation assessed by the tribunal was Rs.9,28,744/- (82,555x3/4x15]. The claimants would be further entitled to receive a sum of Rs.70,000/- towards conventional heads. Thus, the total amount of compensation receivable by the claimants comes to Rs.9,28,744+70,000=9,98,744/-.

The tribunal has already awarded a sum of Rs.8,63,800/-, which is just and reasonable, therefore, no ground is made out to reduce the amount of compensation.

Consequently, the appeal fails and is accordingly dismissed.