Jharkhand High Court
Sushil Kumar Sinha vs Malti Devi on 21 December, 2021
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI
Misc. Appeal No. 97 of 2014
1. Sushil Kumar Sinha
2. Smt. Neeta Sinha .... .... Appellants
Versus
1. Malti Devi
2. Santosh Sao
3. Anand Sao
4. Smt. Rakha Devi
5. Smt. Rina Devi
6. Smt. Ruby Devi
7. Smt. Laxmi Devi
8. Santosh Kumar
9. The New India Assurance Company Limited, Giridih
10.Prakash Sao
.... .... Respondents
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CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE GAUTAM KUMAR CHOUDHARY
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For the Appellants : Mr. Arvind Kr. Lall, Advocate
For the Respondents : M/s Harendra Kr. Singh, D. K. Maltityar,
S.K. Samanta & Prabhat Kumar, Advocates
C.A.V. ON 15.12.2021 PRONOUNCED ON 21 / 12 / 2021
1. The claimants have filed the appeal for enhancement of com-
pensation awarded under Section 166 of the M.V. Act for the death of
Amrit Kumar Sinha by the Motor Accident Claim Tribunal-III in Title
(M.V.) Suit No. 23/2007.
2. The deceased was minor boy, a student of Class VI. The
learned Tribunal by taking Rs.5,000 as the notional income and a multip-
lier of 13 awarded Rs.2,10,000 as the compensation amount with interest
at the rate of 9% per annum from the date of the award till its realization.
The learned Tribunal computed the compensation by taking Rs.15000/-
per annum as the notional income of the deceased on the basis of the
Schedule II of Section 163 A of the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988.
3. The enhancement has been claimed, inter alia, on the ground
that learned Tribunal erred by not accepting notional income of Rs.5000
per month as the monthly income of the deceased. The award of compen-
sation under conventional head is also not in tune with the latest judgment
of the Hon'ble Apex Court and the interest has been awarded at the rate of
9% per annum which should have been 12% from the date of application.
The Hon'ble Apex Court had the opportunity to examine and
revisit the issue of compensation in case of death of minor in Kurvan An-
sari Vs Shyam Kishore Murmu 2021 SCC Online SC 1060 it was held
that :
we deem it appropriate to take notional income of the deceased at Rs.
25,000/- (Rupees twenty five thousand only) per annum. Accordingly,
when the notional income is multiplied with applicable multiplier '15',
as prescribed in Schedule-II for the claims under Section 163-A of the
Motor Vehicles Act 1988, it comes to Rs. 3,75,000/- (Rs. 25,000/- ×
Multiplier 15) towards loss of dependency. The appellants are also en-
titled to a sum of Rs. 40,000/- each towards filial consortium and Rs.
15,000/- towards funeral expenses. Thus, the appellants are entitled to
the following amounts towards compensation:
(a) Loss of Dependency : Rs. 3,75,000-00
(b) Filial Consortium (Rs. 40,000/- × 2) : Rs. 80,000-00
(c) Funeral Expenses : Rs. 15,000-00
Total : Rs. 4,70,000-00
4. The present case is fully covered by the ratio of the case de-
cided by the Hon'ble Apex Court. Claimant are entitled to a final compensa-
tion of Rs.4,70,000 with interest at the rate of 7.5% from the date of applica-
tion.
The Insurance Company is, accordingly, directed to make full
and final satisfaction of the award amount and to that end make the payment
to the Tribunal within a month of this order. The Tribunal shall ensure that
payment is made without any delay to the claimants after proper identifica-
tion and verification.
In the result the appeal is allowed as at above.
(Gautam Kumar Choudhary, J.)
Jharkhand High Court, Ranchi
Dated the 21st December, 2021
NAFR / AKT
