Delhi High Court
Arti Devi & Ors. vs Rajesh & Ors. on 23 July, 2012
Author: G.P. Mittal
$~14
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
Date of decision: 23rd July, 2012
+ MAC. APP. No.442/2011
ARTI DEVI & ORS. ..... Appellant
Through: Mr. O.P. Mannie, Advocate
Versus
RAJESH & ORS. ..... Respondents
Through: Ms. Manjusha Wadhwa,
Advocate for the Respondent
No.3 Insurance Company.
CORAM:
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE G.P.MITTAL
JUDGMENT
G. P. MITTAL, J. (ORAL)
1. The Appeal is for enhancement of compensation of
`20,06,800/- awarded by the Motor Accident Claims
Tribunal(the Claims Tribunal) for the death of Munna Lal who
died in a motor vehicle accident which occurred on 16.12.2009.
2. The finding on negligence is not challenged by the driver, the
owner or the insurer and has thus attained finality.
3. On appreciation of evidence, the Claims Tribunal found that the
deceased had returned an income of `1,25,260/- (Ex.PW1/A)
for the A.Y. 2008-09 and `1,64,312/- (Ex.PW1/B) for the A.Y.
2009-10. The Claims Tribunal accepted the deceased's income
to be `1,64,312/-, deducted 1/4th towards the personal and living
expenses(as the number of dependents were 6) and applied a
multiplier of '16' as per the deceased's age (32 years) to
compute the loss of dependency as `19,71,800/-. On adding a
compensation of `35,000/- towards non-pecuniary heads, a
compensation of `20,06,800/- was awarded.
4. It is urged by the learned counsel for the Appellants that there
was positive evidence in the shape of ITRs that the deceased's
income was increasing. Thus, the Appellants were entitled to
an addition of 50% in the deceased's income towards future
prospects.
5. During inquiry before the Claims Tribunal, it was established
that the deceased was running a photo studio. He had filed
Income Tax Returns for two years before death. There was an
increase of over 20% in the deceased's income in just one year.
6. In Sarla Verma & Ors. v. Delhi Transport Corporation & Anr,
(2009) 6 SCC 121, the Supreme Court simply stated that in case
of self employed person; actual income at the time of the death
should be taken into consideration. Since in this case the
income was increasing and the deceased was aged just 32 years,
I would grant him future prospects on the scale of Sarla Verma
i.e. 50% on the average income for two years. Similar view was
taken by this Court in Santosh Khandelwal & Ors. v. Abbas &
Ors., (MAC. APP. 31/2010) decided on 16.03.2012. The loss
of dependency thus comes to `26,06,148/- (`1,25,260/- +
1,64,312 ÷2 = 1,44,786/- +50% x 3 ÷4 x 16).
7. On adding a sum of `25,000/- towards loss of love and
affection, `10,000/- each towards loss to estate, funeral
expenses and loss of consortium, the overall compensation
comes to `26,61,148/-.
8. The enhanced compensation of `6,54,348/- shall carry interest
@ 7.5% per annum. 10% of the enhanced compensation shall
be payable to each of the Appellants No.2 to 5; 20% to
Appellant No.6 and rest 40% shall be payable to the Appellant
No.1. In case of the Appellants No.2 to 5, the compensation
shall be held in Fixed Deposit till each one of them attains the
age of 21 years. 80% of the compensation payable to the First
Appellant shall be held in Fixed Deposit for a period of three
years. Similarly, 50% of the compensation payable to the
Appellant No.6 shall be held in Fixed Deposit for a period of
three years. Rest of the compensation shall be released to
Appellant No.1 and 6 on deposit.
9. The Respondent No.3 Oriental Insurance Company Ltd. is
directed to deposit the enhanced amount of compensation along
with interest in the name of the Appellants No.1 to 6 in the
UCO Bank, Delhi High Court Branch within six weeks.
10. The Appeal is allowed in above terms.
11. Pending Applications stand disposed of.
(G.P. MITTAL)
JUDGE
JULY 23, 2012
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