Jharkhand High Court
Kamla Devi vs A.I.G. Of Police on 9 December, 2021
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI
Misc. Appeal No. 231 of 2013
1. Kamla Devi
2. Uday Kumar
3. Anamika Kumari
4. Anuradha Kumari
5. Parwati Devi .... .... Appellants
Versus
1. A.I.G. of Police, J.A.P. No.1, Doranda
2. The Commandant, J.A.P. No.1, Doranda
3. Monoj Rai
4. Chief Secretary, Govt. of Jharkhand, Ranchi .... .... Respondents
------
CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE GAUTAM KUMAR CHOUDHARY
------
For the Appellants : M/s Kumar Vimal, Prabhat Kr. Sinha
& Krishnu Rai, Advocates
For the Respondents : M/s Pradeep Kumar, Samir Saurabh
& Krishna Shankar, Advocates
C.A.V. ON 30.11.2021 PRONOUNCED ON 09 / 12 / 2021
1. Claimants have preferred instant appeal for enhancement of
compensation awarded in Motor Vehicle Claim Case No. 16 of 2017.
2. On 26.08.2005 Biswanath Verma suffered a motor vehicle ac-
cident involving Jeep bearing No. BR 01J - 5319 resulting in multiple in-
juries resulting in his death on 30.08.2005. Lalpur P.S. Case No. 102 of
2005 was registered under Sections 279 and 337 of the IPC against the
driver of the said Jeep bearing No. BR 01J - 5319. Police on investigation
found the case true and submitted charge-sheet under Sections 279, 337,
338 and 304A of the IPC. The offending vehicle was of the police depart-
ment and accordingly A.I.G. of Police, Commandant J.A.P and the driver
of the vehicle were impeded as the opposite party.
3. The Tribunal considering the income of the deceased to be
Rs.5000/- per month and applying a multiplier of 11 taking the age of the
deceased to be 55 years awarded a compensation of Rs.464,500/- with in-
terest at the rate of 9% per annum from the date of the judgment.
4. The appeal has been preferred on the ground that the deceased
was aged about 37 years at the time of his death and was earning
Rs.13,100/- per month but his income was taken by the Tribunal to be
Rs.5000/- per month. On his death he left behind five dependents and
therefore deduction of 1/5th ought to have been made for deduction of his
personal and living expenses.
5. In the claim application, it has been pleaded that the deceased
was working in JUDAV (NGO), Madhupur at Deoghar with a monthly
salary of Rs.13,100. Apart from the oral evidence on the point of income,
Exhibit 4 is the salary certificate granted by JUDAV, wherein it has been
stated the monthly salary Exhibit-5 of Late Biswanath Oraon was
Rs.13,100/- as per the salary register for the month of July 2005. Exhibit-5
is the salary register for the month of July 2005 which shows total salary
Rs.13,100/- and bears the signature of the deceased on the register. The
Tribunal has not assigned cogent and convincing reason to discard the
evidence on the point of salary and to accept only Rs.5000/- as his
monthly income. From the oral and documentary evidence adduced on
behalf of the claimants it can be safely inferred that the deceased was em-
ployed in NGO where he was drawing a net salary of Rs.13,100/-.
Taking this amount as the net salary,his annual income will
work out to Rs.13,100 x 12 = Rs.1,57,200/-.
The deceased left behind his wife, two daughters, son and
mother as dependants so applicable deduction on personal living expense
will be 1/4th as per the ratio decided in Sarla Varma case. Accordingly the
annual dependency will work out to Rs.1,17,900/-.
Taking a multiplier of 11 applicable to the age of the deceased
the compensation will be Rs.12, 96,900/-.
As per the ratio decided in National Insurance Co. Ltd. v.
Pranay Sethi, (2017) 16 SCC 680,in case of self-employed or person on
fixed salary, the addition should be 10% between the age of 50 to 60
years.
After adding the income of the deceased under the heading of
future prospect the compensation amount will be Rs.1,296,900+Rs.
1,29,690/- =Rs.1,426,590/-.
Apart from this, the claimant shall also be entitled to
compensation under the conventional head of Rs.77,000/-.
The final compensation amount shall therefore work out to
Rs.14,26,590+77,000= Rs.15,03,590/-
The claimant shall also be entitled to interest at the rate of 7.5%
per annum from the date of filing of the application on the some adjudged.
Out of the total amount of compensation with interest, 50% of the amount
shall be paid to the Claimant No.1 individually and the rest of the
compensation amount shall be equally paid to Claimant Nos.2 to 4 jointly
with Claimant No.1, the widow of the deceased.
The payment shall be made within a month of this order. The
Tribunal shall disburse the amount after proper verification and
identification and in the event of any claimant being minor the same shall
be fixed deposited in a term deposit of a nationalized bank jointly with
claimant no.1 till the minor attains majority.
The appeal is allowed as at above.
(Gautam Kumar Choudhary, J.)
Jharkhand High Court, Ranchi
Dated the 9th December, 2021
NAFR / AKT
