Gujarat High Court
Patel Vanabhai Modabhai vs Thakor Ishwarbhai Karamshibhai on 5 February, 2025
NEUTRAL CITATION
C/FA/1023/2010 ORDER DATED: 05/02/2025
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 1023 of 2010
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PATEL VANABHAI MODABHAI & ORS.
Versus
THAKOR ISHWARBHAI KARAMSHIBHAI & ORS.
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Appearance:
DELETED for the Appellant(s) No. 1,2,3
MR PARTH S TOLIA(5617) for the Appellant(s) No. 1,2,3
MR ANAL S SHAH(3988) for the Defendant(s) No. 3
MR CR MISHRA(3474) for the Defendant(s) No. 2
MS KARUNA V RAHEVAR(3818) for the Defendant(s) No. 5
RULE SERVED for the Defendant(s) No. 1
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CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE J. C. DOSHI
Date : 05/02/2025
ORAL ORDER
1. The present First Appeal, under Section 173 of Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, is preferred by the appellants - original claimants being aggrieved and dissatisfied with the judgment and award dated 11.6.2009 passed by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Palanpur in Motor Accident Claim Petition No.760 of 1999.
2. Brief facts of the case are as under:
2.1 Respondent no.1 was driving public career no. GJ-8-
T-3935, respondent no.2 was the owner and respondent no.3 is the insurer of the above said public career at the relevant time. The deceased Bhagwanbhai was driving motor cycle no.GJ-8-B- 2959 at the relevant time. Respondent no.4 was the owner and Page 1 of 6 Uploaded by SHEKHAR P. BARVE(HC00200) on Wed Feb 05 2025 Downloaded on : Wed Feb 05 22:31:08 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/FA/1023/2010 ORDER DATED: 05/02/2025 undefined respondent no.5 is the insurer of the above said motor cycle. It is the case of the claimants that the deceased was driving his motorcycle completely on the correct side of the road and in a moderate speed and that too observing rules and regulations of traffic. On Nathuram Joshi was the pillion rider on the said motor cycle. When motorcycle reached near the scene of offence, respondent no.1 came there by driving his career in a rash and negligent manner and that also with uncontrollable and excessive speed and committing breach of rules and regulations of traffic and dashed his career with motorcycle on which the deceased was riding. As a result thereof, deceased was thrown away and motorcycle dragged at a distance of 30-40ft from the main road towards Village- Vavdi and public career went on the wrong side of the road and turned turtle. Both the persons i.e. deceased Bhagwanbhai and pillion rider Nathuram sustained serious injuries. They were removed in the hospital at Tharad and after giving primary treatment, deceased was transferred at Civil Hospital, Palanpur, where he was admitted as an indoor patient and during the treatment, he died in the hospital.
3. Learned advocate for the appellants - claimants has submitted that the Tribunal has committed an error in not properly calculating the amount of compensation. He has submitted that amount of award is on lower side as the Tribunal has not properly considered the various aspects; like prospective income of the deceased, negligence, liability and family circumstances, etc. 3.1 He has submitted that the compensation is required Page 2 of 6 Uploaded by SHEKHAR P. BARVE(HC00200) on Wed Feb 05 2025 Downloaded on : Wed Feb 05 22:31:08 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/FA/1023/2010 ORDER DATED: 05/02/2025 undefined to be enhanced by modifying the award impugned accordingly and this appeal may be allowed.
4. Per contra, learned advocate for respondent - Insurance Company has submitted that the impugned judgment and award passed by the Tribunal is just and proper. The Tribunal has rightly considered the income of the deceased, the age of the deceased, the dependency and future aspect of income. He has submitted that under the head of loss of estate and funeral expenses, the Tribunal has rightly awarded compensation. He has submitted that the amount under the head of loss of consortium is just and proper. He has submitted that this appeal may be dismissed and no interference be made by this Court.
5. Apt to note that the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988 is a beneficial piece of Legislation. The concept of just and fair compensation is integral and seminal to the MV Act. The compensation to be awarded under the principle of just and fair compensation to the injured of the road accident or the legal representative/s of the deceased person is based on the principle of fairness, reasonableness and equability. Anguish of the heart or for mental turbulence being consequential result of the road accident cannot be actually compensated, but the quint essentiality lies in adopting holistic and pragmatic view to the computation of the compensation for the loss sustained, which is to be in the realm of realistic approximation. Although exact or perfect arithmetical calculation of compensation for reparation of the loss arrived from the road accident is almost impossible. The Page 3 of 6 Uploaded by SHEKHAR P. BARVE(HC00200) on Wed Feb 05 2025 Downloaded on : Wed Feb 05 22:31:08 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/FA/1023/2010 ORDER DATED: 05/02/2025 undefined Tribunal is bestowed with duty to make an endevour to award just compensation regardless of the amount claimed by the claimants. The determination of the quantum of compensation therefore, must be liberal and not niggardly since the law values life and limb in a free country in generous scale. Needless to state that money may be awarded, so that something tangible may be procured to reach something else of the like nature, which has been destroyed or lost, but money cannot renew physical frame that has been battered and shattered being a result of the road accident. Yet Tribunal to endavour to bring back victim to stage of pre-road accident as far as possible Thus, the award must be reasonable and cannot be assessed with moderation though it cannot at the same time be pity and what could be granted must be just, fair and equitable compensation.
6.1 I have considered the submissions made by the rival parties. I have perused the record and proceedings of the Tribunal. I have gone through the impugned judgment and award passed by the learned Tribunal. From the record, it transpires that the learned Tribunal has taken the monthly income of the deceased to Rs.7953/- and rounded of to Rs.7950/- considering the supervisory loss for the agricultural income. According to this Court, the figure is rounded of to Rs.8000/- per month. Since the deceased was on his 30s, as per judgment of Sarla Verma Versus Delhi Transport Corporation, 2009 (6) SCC 121, multiplier of 17 would be applied so also 50% rise towards loss of future prospect is also required to be applied.
Page 4 of 6 Uploaded by SHEKHAR P. BARVE(HC00200) on Wed Feb 05 2025 Downloaded on : Wed Feb 05 22:31:08 IST 2025NEUTRAL CITATION C/FA/1023/2010 ORDER DATED: 05/02/2025 undefined 6.2 Further, considering the ratio laid down by the Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of National Insurance Company Ltd. Vs. Pranay Shethi reported in (2017) 16 SCC 680, the general and non-pecuniary damages, Rs.18,150/- each towards loss of estate and funeral expenses should be awarded. Towards loss of consortium, there are two dependents and therefore, Rs.48,400/- to each dependent should be awarded as per the decision of the Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of United India Insurance Co. Ltd., versus Satinder Kaur @ Satwinder Kaur reported in (2021) 11 SCC 780.
6.3 Therefore, total compensation would be as under, which the claimants/s is/are entitled to get.
Particulars Amount (Rs.)
Future dependency Loss 16,32,000/-
(Rs.8000/- + 50% - 1/3 = Rs.8000/- x 12 x
17
Loss of Estate, consortium & funeral 1,33,100/-
expenses
Total... 17,65,100/-
Less: compensation already awarded 12,60,200/-
Additional amount which is awarded 5,04,900/-
7. Therefore, I hold that the claimantss are entitled to get the enhanced compensation of Rs.5,04,900/- with 6% p.a. interest from the date of filing the claim petition till its realisation, which would meet the ends of justice.
Page 5 of 6 Uploaded by SHEKHAR P. BARVE(HC00200) on Wed Feb 05 2025 Downloaded on : Wed Feb 05 22:31:08 IST 2025NEUTRAL CITATION C/FA/1023/2010 ORDER DATED: 05/02/2025 undefined
8. For the reasons recorded above, the following order is passed.
8.1 The present appeal is partly allowed.
8.2 The Insurance Company is directed to deposit the enhanced amount with interest as stated herein above within a period of six weeks from the date of receipt of this order.
8.3 The Tribunal shall disburse the entire awarded amount lying in the FDR and/or with the Tribunal, with accrued interest thereon, if any, to the claimants, by account payee cheque / NEFT / RTGS, after proper verification and after following due procedure.
8.4 While making the payment, the Tribunal shall deduct the courts fees, if not paid, in accordance with rules/law.
8.5 Rest of the direction(s) of the Tribunal remain same.
8.6 Record and proceedings be sent back to the concerned Tribunal, forthwith.
(J. C. DOSHI,J) SHEKHAR P. BARVE Page 6 of 6 Uploaded by SHEKHAR P. BARVE(HC00200) on Wed Feb 05 2025 Downloaded on : Wed Feb 05 22:31:08 IST 2025