Smt. Asha and Others vs Suresh Kumar and Others

Vijender Singh Malik, J.—This is an appeal brought by the claimants seeking enhancement of compensation. The claimants-appellants filed a claim petition u/s 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 on the death of Kartar Singh having occurred in a road side accident that took place on 16.08.2007. The claim petition has been allowed by learned Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, Narnaul (for short ''the Tribunal'') vide award dated 14.12.2009 in a sum of Rs. 4,02,500/- as compensation. Kartar Singh has been aged 25 years. He was employed as a welder and was also doing agricultural work and cattle farming. His monthly income was Rs. 9,000/-. A sum of Rs. 30,00,000/- is claimed as compensation by the claimants, who are his widow, two children and parents.

The claim petition is resisted by the respondents. They have denied the aforesaid averments of the claimants and have denied the age, occupation and income of the deceased. They have also denied the claimants to deserve a sum of Rs. 30,00,000/- as compensation.

Noticing the statement of Satbir, PW-3, who claimed that the deceased was working with him as welder and was being paid Rs. 6000/- per month, learned Tribunal did not agree with the same because he did not bring any record of payment of salary to the deceased or his other employees. A sum of Rs. 2500/- per month alone is taken as income of the deceased and on the basis of the same, compensation has been assessed by applying deduction of 1/4th and adopting the multiplier of 17.

Learned counsel for the appellants has contended that the deceased was 25 years of age. According to him, his age was, however, recorded as 27 years in the post mortem report. According to him, he has no quarrel with the deduction or the multiplier. He is only aggrieved by the income of the deceased as taken by learned Tribunal.

Learned counsel for the appellant has submitted that the employer of the deceased came in the witness box and had stated that he was paying him Rs. 6000/- per month. According to him, learned Tribunal did not accept the said statement and has assessed Rs. 2500/- per month as salary. According to him, at least the statement of Satbir should have been accepted to the extent that the deceased was working as a welder with him and was, thus, a skilled worker. According to him, at least a sum of Rs. 4000/- should have been taken as the income of the deceased.

Though, learned Tribunal had reason to discard the statement of Satbir to the effect that the deceased was getting from him a sum of Rs. 6000/- per month as salary, yet there was no reason for the Tribunal to have assessed the income of the deceased at Rs. 2500/- per month only. At least, he can be taken as a welder in view of the statement of the claimant as well as Satbir and his income should have been taken at a sum of Rs. 4000/- per month. Consequently, I accept the submission of learned counsel for the appellants and take the income of the deceased at Rs. 4000/- per month.

Applying the deduction of 1/4th thereto, I find a sum of Rs. 3000/- as the monthly dependency of the claimants, which comes to Rs. 36,000/- per annum. Multiplying the annual dependency of Rs. 36,000/- with 17, I find a sum of Rs. 6,12,000/- as the amount to have been lost by the claimants in the death of Kartar Singh. Adding to it, a sum of Rs. 20,000/- under the conventional heads, I assess a sum of Rs. 6,32,000/- as compensation in favour of the claimants. In the result, the appeal succeeds and is allowed enhancing the compensation from Rs. 4,02,500/-, to Rs. 6,32,000/- which shall be paid to the claimants with interest @ 6% per annum from the date of filing of petition till the date of realization thereof. Out of this amount, a sum of Rs. 1,00,000/- each would go to the share of appellants No. 2 to 4 and the remaining amount shall go to the share of appellant No. 1. In case of Ankush and Komal, the minor appellants No. 2 and 3, the compensation shall be deposited in fixed deposit in some nationalized bank for the period till they attained the age of majority.