Bombay High Court
Sandip Dashrath Garje And Anr vs Thiru K Saminathan K S Suppusamy ... on 12 August, 2021
Bench: R. G. Avachat
1 FA-2018-2011.doc
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE OF BOMBAY
BENCH AT AURANGABAD
FIRST APPEAL NO. 2018 OF 2011
1] Sandip Dashrath Garje
Age: 21 years, Occu. Education
2] Pradeep Dashrath Garje
Age: 16 years, Occu. Education
All R/o : Surudi, Tq. Ashti,
Dist. Beed - u/g of appellant No.1 ... Appellants
(Ori. Claimants)
Versus
1] Thiru K. Saminathan s/o K. S. Kuppusamy Goundar
Age Major, Occu. Business & owner of Truck
No.TN-33-AX-9898,
R/o 8, Ayyan Thottam, K. C. Palayam,
Tq. Perundurai, Dist. Erode, Tamilnadu-638052
2] Sundaram G. Gurunathan
Age Major, Occup. Driver,
R/o : 5/61C, Lakkampatty Periyahanda,
Post Mettur, Tq. & Dist. Selam,
Tamilnadu - 638052
3] The Manager
New India Assurance Co. Ltd., Nagpur,
Summons to be served to
Thr Branch Manager, Branch office
Ashiyana Building, Jalna Road, Beed,
Tq. & Dist. Beed. ... Respondents
(Ori. Respondents)
....
Mr. Sachin S. Deshmukh, Advocate for appellants
Mr. A. G. Kanade, Advocate for respondent No.3
....
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CORAM : R. G. AVACHAT, J.
DATED : 12th AUGUST, 2021
PER COURT :-
. This appeal has been preferred for enhancement of
compensation granted under the award dated 08.06.2011 passed by
the Chairman, Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (M.A.C.T.) (for short
'the tribunal'), Beed in Motor Accident Claim Petition (M.A.C.P.)
No.168 of 2009.
2. The appellants are the siblings. They claimed
compensation on account of death of their mother in the accident
involving motor vehicles. The tribunal, after considering notional
income of the deceased to be Rs.5,000/- per month, granted
compensation of only Rs.2,00,000/- (inclusive of funeral expenses
and loss of estate) with 18% interest thereon.
3. Heard.
Learned Advocate for the appellants would submit that
the tribunal has awarded the compensation with the observations
that the appellants/claimants would be attaining the age of 21 years
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within a period of 2-3 years and thus they would cease to be the
dependents of the deceased, had she (deceased) been survived. The
learned Advocate, therefore, urged for grant of compensation in the
light of a Constitution Bench judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme
Court in the case of National Insurance Company Limited Vs.
Pranay Sethi and others - (2017) 16 SCC 680.
4. Learned Advocate for the respondent - insurance
company would on the other hand support the impugned award.
5. In the same accident, the appellants-claimants lost their
father as well. Both of them (appellants) were in the age group of
15-19 years when their parents died. Needless to state that they
were the students by then. The tribunal although rightly assumed
notional income of the deceased at Rs.5,000/- per month, did not
make any addition thereto on account of future prospects. It also
erred in observing that the dependency of the claimants would cease
on their attaining the age of 21 years.
6. In Pranay Sethi's case (supra), it has been observed :-
"(a) Motor Vehicles Act (59 of 1988), SS. 166, 163-A and
168 - Compensation for death in motor accident -
Liability of insurance company - Concept of 'just
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compensation' - Has to be determined on foundation of
fairness, reasonableness and equitability on acceptable
legal standard because such determination can never be in
arithmetical exactitude.
...........
...........
(c) Motor Vehicles Act (59 of 1988), SS. 166, and 163-A
- Compensation for death in motor accident - future
prospects - Deceased who was self employed or on fixed
salary - Determination of income while computing
compensation has to include future prospects."
7. Let us therefore work out the amount of compensation
to which the appellants are entitled to.
Considering the notional income of the deceased at
Rs.5,000/-, her annual income comes to Rs.60,000/-. At the time of
her death, deceased was 38 years of age. Multiplier of 15 has
therefore to be applied. It comes to Rs.9,00,000/-. 40% thereof is
added on account of future prospects i.e. Rs. 3,60,000/-. The total is
Rs.12,60,000/-. 50% thereof is deducted towards expenditure the
deceased would have incurred for self had she been survived. Thus,
the amount of compensation on loss of dependency comes to
Rs.6,30,000/-. On account of loss of love and affection a sum of
Rs.40,000/- is granted in addition to Rs.40,000/-, which had already
been granted by the tribunal towards funeral expenditure and loss of
estate. Thus, the total amount of compensation to which the
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appellants are entitled to is Rs.7,10,000/-. The tribunal has granted
interest at the rate of 18% per annum. The same appears to be
exorbitant. Percentage of interest is therefore reduced to 6%.
8. With this, the appeal is allowed in terms of following
order :
ORDER
(i) The First Appeal is partly allowed.
(ii) The impugned award dated 08.06.2019 passed by the
Charman, Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Beed, in
Motor Accident Claim Petition No. 168 of 2009, is
hereby modified, holding the respondent Nos. 1 to 3
jointly and severally liable to pay the appellants a sum
of Rs.7,10,000/- (Rupees Seven Lakh Ten Thousand)
(inclusive of NFL amount) with 6% interest thereon
from the date of petition to the date of realization of
the amount.
(iii) The amount of compensation be paid to the
appellants, equally.
[ R. G. AVACHAT, J. ]
SMS
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