Allahabad High Court
Lalli Gupta And 3 Ors. vs Kundan Singh And 2 Ors. on 25 May, 2022
Bench: Vipin Chandra Dixit
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD
Court No. - 7
Case :- FIRST APPEAL FROM ORDER No. - 971 of 2016
Appellant :- Lalli Gupta And 3 Ors.
Respondent :- Kundan Singh And 2 Ors.
Counsel for Appellant :- Sunil Kumar Singh,Neeraj Shukla,Rakesh Kumar Singh
Counsel for Respondent :- Pranjal Mehrotra,Sudhir Kumar Tripathi
Hon'ble Vipin Chandra Dixit,J.
1. Heard Sri Neeraj Shukla, learned counsel for appellants, Sri Aashish Kumar Gupta, Advocate holding brief of Sri Pranjal Mehrotra, learned counsel for respondent no.3/Reliance General Insurance Company Limited and perused the record. No one is present on behalf of respondent nos.1 and 2.
2. The present first appeal from order has been filed by the claimants-appellants for enhancement of compensation against the judgment and award dated 30.11.2015 passed by learned Motor Accident Claims Tribunal/Additional District Judge, Court No.2, Varanasi in M.A.C.P. No.194 of 2014 (Lalli Gupta and others Vs. Kundan Singh and others), by which the claim petition filed by claimants-appellants was partly allowed and the compensation of Rs.4,13,000/- along with 7% interest has been awarded to the claimants-appellants on account of death of Reeta Devi aged about 35 years.
3. It is submitted by learned counsel for claimants-appellants that Claims Tribunal had erred in not awarding any amount towards future prospects and only Rs.5,000/- has been awarded towards funeral expenses of the deceased whereas the Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of National Insurance Company Ltd. Vs. Pranay Sethi reported in 2017(4) T.A.C. 673, has provided 40% future prospects and Rs.30,000/- for non-pecuniary damages.
4. It is further submitted that Claims Tribunal had erred in deducing 1/3 towards personal expenses of the deceased whereas there was four dependents on the income of the deceased and as such the deduction should be 1/4 in view of law laid down by Hon'ble the Apex Court in the case of Smt. Sarla Verma Vs. Delhi Road Transport Corporation reported in 2009(2) TAC 677.
5. On the other hand, learned counsel appearing for respondent Insurance Company has submitted that Claims Tribunal had also erred in applying the multiplier of 17 accepting the age of the deceased as 35 years whereas the Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of Sarla Verma (supra) has provided the multiplier of 16 for the age group of 31-35 years.
6. Considering the rival submissions of learned counsel for the parties, the compensation awarded by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal is reassessed as follows :-
1. Monthly Income : = Rs.3,000/-
2. Annual Income : = Rs.3,000/- x 12 = Rs.36,000/-
3. Future prospects : (40%) = Rs.14,400/-
4. Total annual income : = Rs.36,000/- + Rs.14,400/- = Rs.50,400/-
5. Deduction towards
personal expenses (1/4) : = Rs.50,400/- - Rs.12,600 = Rs. 37,800/-
6. Multiplier applicable (16) : = Rs.37,800/- x 16 = Rs.6,04,800/-
7. Non-pecuniary damages : = Rs.30,000/-
Total : Rs.6,04,800/- + Rs.30,000/- = Rs. 6,34,800/-
7. In view of aforesaid discussion, the appeal filed by claimants-appellants is hereby partly allowed and award of the Claims Tribunal is modified and compensation awarded by the Claims Tribunal is enhanced from Rs.4,13,000/- to Rs.6,34,800/-. The Reliance General Insurance Company Limited/respondent no.3 is directed to pay enhanced amount of Rs.2,21,800/- along with interest at the rate of 7% from the date of filing claim petition to the claimants/appellants, within two months from today.
8. No order as to costs.
Order Date :- 25.5.2022
Kpy
