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Tripura High Court · body

2015 DIGILAW 16 (TRI)

Biswajit Das v. Naresh Biswas

2015-01-13

DEEPAK GUPTA

body2015
JUDGMENT Deepak Gupta, CJ. 1. This appeal for enhancement of compensation against the award dated 09.06.2009 passed by the learned Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, West Tripura, Agartala in T.S. (MAC) 602 of 2005 whereby, an amount of Rs. 1,87,000/- has been granted as compensation to the claimants on account of the death of deceased Sampa Das, wife of claimant Sri Biswajit Das and mother of claimant Sri Kumarjit Das. 2. The undisputed facts are that Sampa Das died as a result of injuries received in a motor vehicle accident. It is also not disputed that she was about 27/28 years of age at the time when she died. According to the claimants, the deceased was working as a hawker selling clothes, but no evidence worth the name has been produced to prove this fact. The learned Tribunal assessed the income of the deceased at Rs. 15,000/- per month and applying a multiplier of 18 assessed the compensation. 3. Mr. B. Debnath, learned counsel for the appellants contends that the deceased even if she was a housewife must be granted compensation by taking to consideration her contribution to the house work. 4. The Apex Court in Arun Kumar Agarwal v. National Insurance Company Limited, [ AIR 2010 SC 3426 ] held as follows:-- "27. It is not possible to quantify any amount in lieu of the services rendered by the wife/mother to the family i.e. husband and children. However, for the purpose of award of compensation to the dependents, some pecuniary estimate has to be made of the services of housewife/mother. In that context, the term "services" is required to be given a broad meaning and must be construed by taking into account the loss of personal care and attention given by the deceased to her children as a mother and to her husband as a wife. They are entitled to adequate compensation in lieu of the loss of gratuitous services rendered by the deceased. The amount payable to the dependents cannot be diminished on the ground that some close relation like a grandmother may volunteer to render some of the services to the family which the deceased was giving earlier. xxxx 35. They are entitled to adequate compensation in lieu of the loss of gratuitous services rendered by the deceased. The amount payable to the dependents cannot be diminished on the ground that some close relation like a grandmother may volunteer to render some of the services to the family which the deceased was giving earlier. xxxx 35. In our view, it is highly unfair, unjust and inappropriate to compute the compensation payable to the dependents of a deceased wife/mother, who does not have regular income, by comparing her services with that of a housekeeper or a servant or an employee, who works for a fixed period. The gratuitous services rendered by wife/mother to the husband and children cannot be equated with the services of an employee and no evidence or data can possibly be produced for estimating the value of such services." 5. Even if it is assumed that the deceased was only a housewife, keeping into consideration all relevant aspects including future prospects, the contribution of the housewife to the household even after deducting her personal expenses would not be less then Rs. 3,000/- per month or Rs. 36,000/- per year. Since the deceased was in the age group of 25-30 years, a multiplier of 18 is applied and the compensation under this head works out to Rs. 6,48,000/-. 6. In addition thereto, the husband is held entitled to Rs. 50,000/- for loss of consortium. The claimants are also awarded Rs. 20,000/- for funeral expenses and Rs. 20,000/- for loss of estate. Therefore, the total amount of compensation works out to (Rs. 6,48,000/- + Rs. 50,000/- + Rs. 20,000/- + Rs. 20,000/-) Rs. 7,38,000/- (Rupees Seven lakh thirty eight thousand). 7. In view of the above discussion, the appeal is allowed. The award of the learned Tribunal is modified and the compensation is enhanced from Rs. 1,87,000/- to Rs. 7,38,000/-, i.e. by Rs. 5,51,000/-. On the amount of compensation so awarded, the claimants shall also be entitled to interest @ 7.5% per annum from the date of filing of the claim petition till payment/deposit of the awarded amount. The Insurance Company has satisfied the award and, therefore, it is directed to deposit the enhanced amount of compensation along with interest in the Registry of this Court within four months from today after deducting/adjusting the amount, if any, already paid/deposited by them along with proof of such earlier deposit. 8. The Insurance Company has satisfied the award and, therefore, it is directed to deposit the enhanced amount of compensation along with interest in the Registry of this Court within four months from today after deducting/adjusting the amount, if any, already paid/deposited by them along with proof of such earlier deposit. 8. The amount of compensation is apportioned as follows:-- "Out of the total amount of the compensation, the father Shri Biswajit Das shall be paid Rs. 2,38,000/- (Rupees Two lakh thirty eight thousand). The rest of the amount of Rs. 5,00,000/- (Rupees Five lakh) shall be paid to the minor Sri Kumarjit Das. The amount falling to the share of the minor shall be kept in a fixed deposit for a period till he attains the age of 21 years. However, the interest accrued thereupon shall be paid on quarterly basis by remitting it to the bank account of appellant-father, details whereof along with photocopy of the first page of the bank pass book be furnished to the Registry of this Court within 4(four) weeks from today." 9. The appeal is accordingly disposed of in the aforesaid terms. 10. Send down the lower court records forthwith.