Karnataka High Court
Smt. Padmavathi And Anr vs Yallappa And Ors on 5 January, 2023
Bench: Sreenivas Harish Kumar, T G Gowda
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA
KALABURAGI BENCH
DATED THIS THE 5TH DAY OF JANUARY, 2023
PRESENT
THE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SREENIVAS HARISH KUMAR
AND
THE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE T.G. SHIVASHANKARE GOWDA
MISCELLANEOUS FIRST APPEAL NO.200071/2020(MV)
BETWEEN:
1. Smt. Padmavathi,
W/o. Late Mounesh Police Patil,
Age: 25 years, Occ: Household
2. Smt. Basamma
W/o. Late Adanagouda,
Age: 57 years, Occ: Nil
Both are R/o: Devarabhupur Village,
Now residing at Nijalingappa Colony,
Raichur
... Appellants
(By Smt. Patil Shantabai Subhash, Advocate)
MFA No.200071/2020
2
AND:
1. Yallappa S/o. Shivalingappa,
Age: 48 years, Occ: Driver of Lorry
R/o: Mugabasava, Tq: Bailhongala,
Dist: Belagavi-591 104
2. Ramesh S/o. Shivaputrappa Shetter,
Age: 61 year Occ: Owner of Lorry
R/o: Bankapur, Tq: Shiggavi,
Dist: Haveri-581 205
3. The Branch Manager,
The United India Ins. Co. Ltd.,
Near Chandramouleshwar Circle,
Raichur-584 101
(By Sri Santosh Kumar Biradar, Advocate for R2;
Sri Rahul R. Asture, Advocate for R3;
R1-Notice dispensed with V/O. dtd.12.07.2021)
... Respondents
This Miscellaneous First Appeal is filed under Section
173(1) MV Act, praying to allow the appeal by modifying the
judgment and award dated 03.04.2019 passed by the II Addl.
District and Sessions Judge (MACT) at Raichur in MVC
No.437/2018 and please to enhance the compensation of
Rs.29,06,700/- etc.
This appeal coming on for Admission, through physical
hearing / video conference, this day T.G. Shivashankare
Gowda, J., delivered the following:
MFA No.200071/2020
3
JUDGMENT
In this appeal the appellants have challenged the
judgment and award dated 03.04.2019 passed in MVC
No.437/2018 on the file of the II Additional District Judge and
MACT, Raichur (Hereinafter referred to as 'Tribunal' for
short).
2. The appellants were the petitioners and
respondents were the respondents before the Tribunal.
3. The parties will be referred with respect to their
status before the Tribunal for the sake of convenience.
4. Briefly stated, the facts are that, the 1st petitioner
is the wife and the 2nd petitioner is the mother of Mounesh
Police Patil, the deceased. Mounesh Police Patil while riding
the motor cycle suffered severe injuries in a road accident
MFA No.200071/2020
that took place on 03.10.2017 at Lingasugur-Kalburgi Road
near Honnalli Devvad Halla hit by Lorry bearing registration
No.KA-14/B-1513. He succumbed to injuries at the spot.
Petitioners claimed compensation of Rs.45,00,000/-. They
pleaded that deceased was aged 28 years, working as Labour
and agriculture and earning Rs.25,000/- per month. The
claim was opposed by the Insurance Company. The Tribunal
awarded Rs.15,93,300/- with 8% interest.
5. The petitioners have pleaded inadequacy in the
compensation awarded by the Tribunal and loss of love and
affection has not been awarded to mother.
6. According to the learned counsel for petitioners,
the deceased was earning Rs.25,000/- per month, even at
Lok-adalath Rs.10,250/- is being considered and accordingly
he sought for enhancement.
MFA No.200071/2020
7. Per contra, learned counsel for Insurance
Company contended that amount granted towards
conventional head is on higher side and the correct income
was taken by the Tribunal and supported the impugned
judgment.
8. We have given our anxious consideration to the
arguments addressed on behalf of the parties and perused
the records.
9. As seen from the impugned judgment, the
Tribunal has taken the income of the deceased at Rs.8,000/-
per month, which is on the lower side. The petitioners have
not proved the income of the deceased as Rs.25,000/- per
month. In the absence of proof of income the Court has to
take notional income of Rs.10,250/- per month considering
the date of accident on 03.10.2017.
MFA No.200071/2020
10. The Tribunal rightly applied the principles laid
down in National Insurance Company Limited vs.
Pranay Sethi and Others -2017 ACJ 680 and took future
prospects at 40%, but did not award any compensation on
conventional heads. The deceased was aged 28 years.
Hence, applicable multiplier as per decision of Apex Court in
the case of Sarla Verma v. DTC- (2009)6 SCC 121, is '17'.
11. If all these factors are taken into consideration the
assessment of loss of dependency would be: Rs.10,250/-
(Income of the deceased) + Rs.4,100/- (40% Future
Prospects) = Rs.14,350/-. The petitioners are the wife and
mother of the deceased. Since, they are 2 in number, 1/3rd
of income i.e., Rs.4,783/- has to be deducted towards
personal expenses of the deceased. It comes to Rs.9,567/-
and if it is multiplied by '12' and '17', it comes to
Rs.19,51,668/-. Under the conventional head, each of the
petitioners is entitled to Rs.40,000/- towards loss of love and
MFA No.200071/2020
affection to mother and also consortium to wife, in total it
comes to Rs.80,000/-. Towards loss of estate and funeral
expenses Rs.15,000/- each is assessed. The total
compensation comes to Rs.19,51,668/- + Rs.1,10,000/- =
Rs.20,61,668/-, which is the just compensation to which the
petitioners are entitled. Accordingly the appeal filed by the
petitioners deserves to be allowed.
12. In the result, the following:
ORDER
The appeal is allowed in part.
The judgment and award passed by the
Tribunal is modified.
The petitioners are entitled to enhanced
compensation of Rs.4,68,368/- rounded off to
Rs.4,68,400/- with interest at the rate of 6% per
annum excluding for 131 days in filing the appeal
belatedly.
MFA No.200071/2020
Rest of the judgment and award of the Tribunal
is kept intact.
Office is directed to transfer the amount if any
in deposit, to the Tribunal, forthwith and also
transmit the records.
Sd/-
JUDGE
Sd/-
JUDGE
