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Jharkhand High Court · body

2009 DIGILAW 617 (JHR)

Agnashia Khalkho v. Divisional Manager, New India Insurance Company Ltd.

2009-04-27

JAYA ROY, M.Y.EQBAL

body2009
JUDGMENT : This appeal, by the claimants-appellants, is for enhancement of compensation awarded by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Ranchi in Compensation Case No. 200 of 2003. The deceased was aged about 40 years and died in a motor vehicle accident. The deceased while going to Gargaon from his house was dashed by a bus as a result of which he succumbed to the injuries. The claimants, who are the widow, minor daughter and parents of the deceased jointly filed the claim application for the grant of compensation stating, inter alia, that the deceased was an agriculturist and his monthly earning was Rs. 3000/-per month. Evidence to that effect was led by the claimants but the Tribunal came to the different finding: “So far the annual income of the deceased, Dinesh Khalkho is concerned, the evidence of C.W. 1, Agashia khalkho, the widow of the deceased Dinesh Khalkho has come on the record. She has stated that the monthly income of her husband was Rs. 3000 per month from agricultural work, she appears to have stated so merely for the sake of getting more money from the award of compensation. There is also not available a single chit of paper on the record, which may throw some light on the income of the deceased Dinesh khalkho and only it has been stated that the deceased was engaged in agricultural work but income of the deceased has not been proved and Exhibit ‘1’ i.e. Extract copy of Khatiyan goes to show that many names of persons find place in the Khatian i.e. Exhibit”I’ as recorded as owner but the name of the deceased has not been recorded in the said Khatiyan, Exhibit ‘I’ as such having regard to the facts, evidences and circumstances of the case, I, thus do not find any reliable evidences regarding the income of the deceased and thus intend to keep him in the category of non-earning persons. I, therefore, consider his annual income to be of Rs. 15,000/-(Fifteen thousand) per annum as per the schedule II of the M.V. Act, 1988. Since 1/3 of the annual income of the deceased has been held to be his personal living expenses for maintaining himself, as such the net annual income of the deceased shall be deducted by 1/3 for the deceased personal living expenses and when I did so, it would be arrive at Rs. Since 1/3 of the annual income of the deceased has been held to be his personal living expenses for maintaining himself, as such the net annual income of the deceased shall be deducted by 1/3 for the deceased personal living expenses and when I did so, it would be arrive at Rs. 10,000/-(Ten Thousand) per annum. Now when the age of the deceased has been assessed to be of 40 years, the appropriate and suitable multiplier in his case would be sixteen. I multiply it with the annual dependency of the deceased for his dependents, the multiplicand would come at Rs. 1,60,000/-(One Lakh Sixty Thousand). I further want to award Rs. 2000/-(Two Thousand) in terms of funeral expenses of the deceased and Rs. 5000/-as consortium. When I add all these stated amount together, the total amount of the compensation would come to Rs. 1,67,000/-(One Lakh Sixty Seven Thousand) awardable to the claimants. Accordingly the issues no. 4,5, and 6 are decided in favour of the claimants against the O.Ps.” Admittedly no evidence was led from the side of the owner of the vehicle or the Insurance Company denying or disputing the fact that the deceased was an earning member. When evidence was led by the claimants that earning of the deceased was Rs. 3000/-from agricultural income then the Tribunal should not have discarded the evidences merely because the names of the ancestor were recorded in the record of right in respect of agricultural land. Be that as it may, if we take monthly earning of the decease of Rs. 2500.-the annual dependency comes to Rs. 30,000/-. After deducting 1/3 the annual dependency comes to Rs. 20,000/-. Taking multiplier of 15, the net amount comes to Rs. 3,00,000/-, which in our view, is just and proper compensation particularly considering the fact that the deceased died leaving behind his widow, minor daughter and old parents. This appeal is, therefore, allowed and the amount of compensation is enhanced to Rs. 300000/-(Three lakhs) which shall carry interest as awarded by the Tribunal.