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2012 DIGILAW 650 (RAJ)

Taj Bano v. Bansilal

2012-03-14

MAHESH BHAGWATI

body2012
BHAGWATI, J.—Challenge in this appeal is to the judgment and award dated 22nd December, 2006 rendered by Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Ajmer, adjudged the monthly income of the deceased to be Rs. 6721/- and after applying the multiplier of 9 and deducting 1/3rd, which the deceased would have incurred had he been alive, computed Rs. 4,83,948/- to be the loss of income and decreed an amount of Rs. 5,70,448/- in favour of claimants-appellants and against the non claimants-respondents. The instant appeal has been filed by the appellants for enhancement of the quantum of compensation. 2. Learned counsel for the appellants canvassed that at the time of accident, the deceased was 51 years of age and as per the Second Schedule appended to the Motor Vehicles Act, the multiplier of 11 ought to have applied instead of 9. He further canvassed that in the instant case, the dependents are six and in view of the judgment rendered by Apex Court in the case of Smt. Sarla Verma and Others vs. Delhi Transport Corporation and Anr. reported in 2009(2) TAC 677 (S.C.) = 2009(1) CCR 276 (SC) = 2009(4) RLW 2785 (SC), the deductions should have been 1/4th towards personal and living expenses of the deceased, but the learned Tribunal deducted 1/3rd as personal and living expenses of the deceased. Thus, the learned Tribunal erred while computing the quantum of compensation, which needs to be recalculated and impugned award deserves to be modified. 3. Having heard the learned counsel for the parties and carefully perused the impugned award, it is noticed that the second schedule appended to the M.V. Act envisages the multiplier of 11 for the victims falling within the age group of 50-55 years. It is further noticed that the Apex Court in the case of Smt. Sarla Verma (supra) held that where the number of dependent family members is 4 to 6, the deductions towards personal & living expenses of the deceased should be 1/4th. Hence, in view of above, the learned Tribunal is found to have committed error by way of deducting 1/3rd of the personal and living expenses of the deceased. Thus, after applying the multiplier of 11 and deducting 1/4th of the personal and living expenses of the deceased, the loss of dependency is recomputed as under:- Rs. 6721 x 1/4th = Rs. 1680.25 Rs. 6721 – Rs. 1680.25 = Rs. Thus, after applying the multiplier of 11 and deducting 1/4th of the personal and living expenses of the deceased, the loss of dependency is recomputed as under:- Rs. 6721 x 1/4th = Rs. 1680.25 Rs. 6721 – Rs. 1680.25 = Rs. 5040.75 The annual dependency comes to Rs.5040.75 x 12 = Rs.60,489/-. On applying the multiplier of 11, the loss of income comes to Rs. 6,65,379/-. After adding Rs. 20,000/- awarded under the head of consortium; Rs. 50,000/- awarded under the head of love and affection (Rs. 10000/- to each children, father and mother respectively); and Rs. 5,000/- awarded under the head of funeral expenses; Rs. 10,000/- awarded under the loss of expectation of life; Rs. 500/- towards to and fro charges; and Rs. 1000/- towards loss of estate, the total amount of compensation comes to Rs. 7,51,879/-. 4. For these reasons, the appeal is partly allowed. The claimants appellants are held entitled to claim compensation of Rs. 7,51,879/- instead of Rs. 5,70,448/- from the respondents non claimants. The claimants-respondents are further held entitled to claim interest @ 6% per annum on the enhanced amount of compensation from the date of filing the claim petition till the amount is actually realized. Rest of the terms under the award shall remain unchanged. 5. The impugned award stands modified, as indicated here-in-above. 6. The appeal stands disposed of accordingly.