Smt. Basanti Bai and Another vs Ishwar Kumar Sahu and Others

Rajeev Gupta, C.J.—The unfortunate parents of deceased Dinesh Yadav are the Appellants before us in this appeal for enhancement of the compensation awarded by the Tenth Additional Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Bilaspur (for short the Tribunal'') vide award dated 09.11.2004, passed in Claim Case No. 96/2004.

As against the compensation of Rs. 5,60,000/- claimed by the Appellants/claimants, unfortunate parents of deceased Dinesh Yadav, by filing a claim petition u/s 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act, for his death in the motor accident on 10.04.2000, the Tribunal awarded a total sum of Rs. 1,56,000/- as compensation along with interest @ 6% per annum from the date of filing of the claim petition till the date of actual payment.

Shri Malay Kumar Bhaduri, learned Counsel for the Appellants vehemently argued that the Tribunal has erred in awarding low compensation of Rs. 1,56,000/- only, though the deceased would have extended great support to the claimants in their old age.

Shri Raj Awasthi, learned Counsel for Respondent No. 3- the Oriental Insurance Company Limited, on the other hand, supported the award and contended that the compensation of Rs. 1,56,000/- awarded by the Tribunal is just and proper compensation in the facts and circumstances of the present case.

In a motor accident claim case, what is important is that, the compensation to be awarded by the Courts/Tribunals 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. 1,56,000/- awarded by the Tribunal is just and proper compensation in the facts and circumstances of the present case.

The claimants cannot have any legitimate grievance about the assessment of the. income of the deceased by the Tribunal as they themselves pleaded and proved that their son Dinesh Yadav used to earn Rs. 80/- per day as labour and the Tribunal assessed the income of the deceased at Rs. 80/-per day and Rs. 2,000/- per month assuming that the deceased was getting work only for 20 days in a month.

We, therefore, do not find any infirmity in the assessment of the income of the deceased by the Tribunal at Rs. 80/- per day and Rs. 2,000/- per month.

The claimants'' dependency also has been rightly assessed by the Tribunal by deducting 50% of the income of the deceased towards his personal expenses. It is perfectly inline with the dictum of the Apex Court in the case of Syed Basheer Ahamed and Others Vs. Mohd. Jameel and Another, .

The multiplier of 12 selected by the Tribunal is rather on the higher side considering 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.