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Rajasthan High Court · body

2008 DIGILAW 2414 (RAJ)

Mishri Lal v. Sanjay Singh

2008-11-03

N.K.JAIN

body2008
Judgment Hon'ble JAIN, J.—Admit. 2. Heard learned counsel for the parties. 3. This appeal, on behalf of the claimants for enhancement of the amount of compensation, under Section 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, is directed against the impugned Award dated 9th February, 2004, passed by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Tonk, whereby the learned Tribunal awarded a total compensation of Rs.1,45,800/- in their favour, with interest at the rate of 6% per annum from the date of filing of the claim application i.e. 19th August, 1998 till the date of realization. 4. The only contention of the learned counsel for the appellants is that the Tribunal committed an illegality in deducting the amount of Rs.800/- towards personal expenses of the deceased from his total income of Rs.1500/- as determined by the Tribunal, whereas the normal rule is that 1/3rd amount is deducted from the total income of the deceased and rest amount is treated as dependency for the purpose of awarding compensation. He contended that the Tribunal, after considering the future prospects of the deceased, determined his income at Rs.1500/- per month and after deducting 1/3rd amount therefrom towards his personal expenses, the amount of compensation ought to have been awarded on the basis of Rs.1000/- per month, whereas the learned Tribunal has awarded the compensation treating the dependency of Rs.700/-, therefore, the amount of compensation may be enhanced to that extent. 5. The learned counsel for the respondents contended that the deceased was bachelor and in the cases where the claimants are only parents then multiplier to be taken into consideration is on the basis of age of the claimants and not of the deceased. The Tribunal in the present case has applied the multiplier of 17, which is per-se illegal in view of the second schedule appended with the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. It is contended that the parents were 42 and 40 years of age, therefore, looking to their age, the multiplier of 15 ought to have been applied, and thus the Tribunal has awarded more compensation by applying the multiplier on higher side i.e. 17 in place of 15, therefore, no interference is called for in the impugned Award passed by the Tribunal. 6. I have considered the submissions of the learned counsel for the parties in the light of finding of the Tribunal in respect of Issue No.2. 7. 6. I have considered the submissions of the learned counsel for the parties in the light of finding of the Tribunal in respect of Issue No.2. 7. The learned Tribunal has observed that in Para 6 of the claim application the claimants have pleaded that the deceased was earning Rs.1000/- per month. The Tribunal accepted the income of the deceased at Rs.1000/- per month, however, after considering the future prospects, the learned Tribunal assessed the income of the deceased at Rs.1500/- per month, therefore, the amount of compensation ought to have been awarded on the basis of Rs.1000/-, which comes after deducting 1/3rd amount towards his personal expenses but, while calculating the amount of compensation, the learned Tribunal took into consideration only Rs.700/- per month as his income. It is also correct that in the case where parents are claimants then the age of parents is relevant for the purpose of applying the multiplier. In the present case the claimants were 42 and 40 years of age on the date of claim application and as per their age the multiplier of 15 ought to have been applied in place of 17, as applied by the learned Tribunal. 8. In these circumstances, I am of the view that the claimants are entitled to get total compensation of Rs.1,80,000/- (1000x12x15) towards loss of income. The Tribunal has further awarded Rs.13000/- under other heads and I am satisfied that the claimants are entitled to the said amount also. Therefore, the total amount of compensation comes to Rs.1,93,000/- and to that extent the impugned Award of the Tribunal is liable to be modified. 9. Consequently, the appeal is allowed. The amount of compensation awarded by the Tribunal is enhanced from Rs.1,45,800/- to Rs.1,93,000/-. The impugned Award is accordingly modified. The enhanced amount of compensation shall also carry interest at the rate of 6% per annum from the date of filing of the claim application i.e. 19th August, 1998, till the date of realization. No order as to costs.