Gujarat High Court
United India Insurance Co. Ltd vs Virabhai Shakarabhai ... on 11 April, 2023
Bench: Gita Gopi
C/FA/1664/2019 JUDGMENT DATED: 11/04/2023
IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 1664 of 2019
FOR APPROVAL AND SIGNATURE:
HONOURABLE MS. JUSTICE GITA GOPI Sd/-
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1 Whether Reporters of Local Papers may be allowed to see No
the judgment ?
2 To be referred to the Reporter or not ? No
3 Whether their Lordships wish to see the fair copy of the No
judgment ?
4 Whether this case involves a substantial question of law as No
to the interpretation of the Constitution of India or any
order made thereunder ?
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UNITED INDIA INSURANCE CO. LTD
Versus
VIRABHAI SHAKARABHAI PARMAR(AADIVAS)
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Appearance:
MR MAULIK J SHELAT(2500) for the Appellant(s) No. 1
KAASH K THAKKAR(7332) for the Defendant(s) No. 1,2
NOTICE UNSERVED for the Defendant(s) No. 3,4
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CORAM:HONOURABLE MS. JUSTICE GITA GOPI
Date : 11/04/2023
ORAL JUDGMENT
1. By way of this Appeal, the Appellant-Insurance
Company has challenged the judgment and award
dated 30.06.2017 passed by the learned Motor
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Accident Claims Tribunal (Aux.), Banaskantha at
Palanpur in M.A.C.P. No.591 of 2010 on the ground
that the learned Tribunal has not followed the ratio
laid down by the Hon'ble Apex Court in various
judgments while dealing with the fatal case of a
minor aged about 15 years.
2. The facts of the case are that on 17.11.2010, the
deceased alongwith his other relatives was seated in a
Jeep bearing Registration No.GJ-2A-3835 and was
going towards his house. At that time, the driver of
another Jeep bearing Registration No.GJ-8A-3513 who
was driving in a rash and negligent manner dashed
with the Jeep in which the deceased was seated as a
result of which the deceased suffered severe injuries
and thereafter, expired.
3. Learned Advocate for the appellant - Insurance
Company Mr. Maulik Shelat submits that the learned
Tribunal has bifurcated the amount under various
heads and has applied the multiplier of 18 instead of
15 and further, has also deducted the amount
towards personal expenses as one-third instead of half
(1/2). It is further submitted that the Hon'ble Apex
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Court in the decisions of Lata Wadhwa and Others v.
State of Bihar and Others reported in 2001 8 SCC 197
and Kishan Gopal and Another v. Lala and Others
reported in 2014 1 SCC 244 has laid down the
consistent view of applying the multiplier of 15,
which is also to be followed and applied in the
present matter.
4. Countering the above arguments, learned Advocate
for the claimant Mr. Kash K. Thakker has submitted
the amount under the head of love and affection and
personal expenses are required to be separately
assessed. It is further submitted that the multiplier
applied by the learned Tribunal is just and proper as
also the deduction towards personal expenses.
5. Heard learned Advocates for the respective parties
and perused the records of the case. The learned
Tribunal while appreciating the evidence on record
has laid down the negligence on the Jeep bearing
Registration No.GJ-8A-3513 and thus made the
respondents No.1 and 2 liable to pay the
compensation. The learned Tribunal had considered
the age of the deceased as 15 years as stated to have
C/FA/1664/2019 JUDGMENT DATED: 11/04/2023
been surfacing from the record.
6. The deceased was studying in Standard Ten and the
learned Tribunal has assessed the compensation as
under :-
Dependency loss : Rs.5,40,000/-
Towards love and affection : Rs. 25,000/-
Towards funeral expenses : Rs. 5,000/-
TOTAL : Rs.5,70,000/-
7. In the case of Kishan Gopal (supra), the child was
aged about 10 years and after having considered the
proposition of law laid down in Lata Wadhwa's case,
the Apex Court considered it just and reasonable to
take his notional income at Rs.30,000/-. Further,
considering the young age of the parents, a multiplier
of 15 was made applicable. Thus, Rs.30,000/- x 15 =
Rs.4,50,000/- and Rs.50,000/- under conventional
heads towards loss of love and affection, funeral
expenses, last rites as held in Susamma Thomas,
(1994) 2 SCC 176, which was referred to in Lata
Wadhwa's case and the said amount under the
conventional heads is awarded even in relation to the
death of children between 10 to 15 years old. In Lata
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Wadhwa (supra), the Apex Court has observed as
under :
"The compensation determined for the children
of all age groups could be double of what is
stated in Schedule II to the MV Act, as the
determination made was grossly inadequate and
further made that the loss of children is
irrecoupable and no amount of money could
compensate the parents."
8. Considering the above observations in Lata
Wadhwa's case, the Apex Court goes to observe in
Kishan Gopal's case that, "The legal principle laid
down in Lata Wadhwa case is applicable to the
facts and circumstances of the case in hand having
regard to the fact that the deceased was 10 years
old, who was assisting the appellants in their
agricultural occupation which is an undisputed fact.
Further, the deceased boy, had he been alive,
would have certainly contributed substantially to
the family of the appellants by working hard."
9. In the case of Kishan Gopal, deceased child was
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aged about 10 years who was assisting the
appellants in their agricultural occupation which is
an undisputed fact. Further, it was observed that
had the boy been alive, he would have certainly
contributed substantially to the family of the
appellants by working hard. In Meena Devi's case
(supra), age of the deceased was 12 years and a
consistent view has been adopted in most of the
judgments where the notional income of the
deceased children are to be treated as Rs.30,000/-
by applying the multiplier of 15, no amount has
been deducted under the head of personal expenses
of the child and loss of dependency is considered
as Rs.4,50,000/- and Rs.50,000/- under the
conventional head.
10. In Kurvan Ansari @ Kurvan Ali and Anr. v.
Shyam Kishore Murmu and Anr., reported in
(2022) 1 SCC 317, a child aged 7 years had died
in accident. The Court took the notional income as
Rs.25,000/- applying multiplier of 15 calculating
loss of dependency as Rs.3,75,000/-, addition
Rs.95,000/- under conventional heads, awarded
Rs.4,70,000/-. The said decision was referred in
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Meena Devi's case (supra) by applying the principle
and ratio laid down in Kishan Gopal's case (supra)
and multiplier of 15 in view of decision in Sarla
Verma and Ors. v. Delhi Transport Corporation and
Anr., (2009) 6 SCC 121, the loss of dependency
was considered as Rs.4,50,000/- and Rs.50,000/-
was added under the conventional heads, total
amount of compensation was considered as Rs.5
lakh.
11. Thus, in view of the above, the compensation
amount granted by the learned Tribunal is in
excess to what has been laid down in the referred
judgment. By considering the notional income as
Rs.30,000/- and by applying the multiplier of 15,
the loss of dependency would come to
Rs.4,50,000/- and consistently in the above referred
judgment/s, Rs.50,000/- has been granted under
the conventional heads. Hence, the total amount
would come to Rs.5,00,000/-. The learned
Tribunal thus has granted an excess amount of
Rs.70,000/- which is required to be remitted to the
Insurance Company.
C/FA/1664/2019 JUDGMENT DATED: 11/04/2023
12. As it is stated that the entire awarded amount
has been deposited before the concerned Tribunal,
thus, after deducting Rs.70,000/- with interest
accrued thereon, the balance amount of
Rs.5,00,000/- (Rupees Five Lakhs Only) be granted
to the claimant/s alongwith the interest amount
earnt thereon, within a period of EIGHT (8)
WEEKS from the date of receipt of writ of the
order of this Court.
13. In view of the above, the Appeal is allowed and
the judgment and award dated 30.06.2017 passed by
the learned Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (Aux.),
Banaskantha at Palanpur in M.A.C.P. No.591 of 2010
stands modified to the above extent. Record and
proceedings, if any, be sent back to the concerned
Court / Tribunal forthwith.
Sd/-
(GITA GOPI, J)
CAROLINE
