Madras High Court
M/S.Reliance General Insurance ... vs G.Vidhya on 7 September, 2021
C.M.A. No.530 of 2020
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
DATED : 07.09.2021
CORAM
THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE K.KALYANASUNDARAM
and
THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE V.SIVAGNANAM
C.M.A. No.530 of 2020
and CMP.No.3295 of 2020
M/s.Reliance General Insurance Co. Ltd.,
3rd Floor, No.29, North Usman Road,
T.Nagar, Chennai 17. ...appellant
Vs.
1. G.Vidhya
2. Minor Tharun
[Minor rep. by her mother and
natural guardian, G.Vidhya]
3. P.Dilli
4. A.Natarajan ...respondents
Prayer: Civil Miscellaneous Appeal filed under Section 173 of
Motor Vehicle Act, 1988 against the judgment and decree dated 31.01.2019
made in MCOP.No.4900 of 2016 on the file of the Motor Accidents Claims
Tribunal, Special Sub Court No.2, Small Causes Court, Chennai.
For Appellant : Mr.S.Arunkumar
For Respondents
for RR1 to 3 : Mr.A.Vijayasankar
for R4 : Set ex-parte before the Tribunal
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C.M.A. No.530 of 2020
JUDGMENT
[Judgment of the Court was delivered V.SIVAGNANAM, J]
The appeal is heard through video conferencing.
2. Challenging the award passed by the Motor Accidents Claims
Tribunal, Special Sub Court No.2, Small Causes Court, Chennai in
MCOP.No.4900 of 2016, dated 31.01.2019, the present appeal has been
filed by the Insurance Company.
3. It is the case of the respondents 1 to 3/claimants that on 06.05.2016
at about 5.45 am, the deceased Ganesan was travelling in a Hero Honda
bike bearing Registration No.TN-12-F-2952 on the C.T.H. Road from
Veppampattu towards Tiruvallur. While he was nearing Thozhuvur Burial
Ground, a Tripper Lorry bearing Registration No.TN-04-AA-6337,
belonging to the fourth respondent and insured with the appellant/Insurance
Company, driven by its driver in a rash and negligent manner from the
opposite direction, dashed against the two wheeler. Due to the impact, the
deceased died on the spot. Hence, the legal heirs of the claimants laid a
claim petition, claiming a compensation of Rs.2,00,00,000/-.
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C.M.A. No.530 of 2020
4. Resisting the claim, the Insurance Company filed their counter
disputing the manner of accident as projected by the claimant, age,
occupation and income of the deceased and its liability to pay the
compensation.
5. To substantiate the claim on the side of the claimants, the first
claimant examined herself as PW1, besides examining PW2 and marked
Exs.P1 to P13. On the side of the Insurance Company, neither any oral
evidence was adduced nor any documentary evidence was marked.
6. The Tribunal, after considering the oral and documentary evidence
held that the accident had occurred due to the rash and negligent driving of
the driver of the Tripper Lorry bearing Registration No.TN-04-AA-6337.
By coming to such conclusion, the Tribunal passed an award for a sum of
Rs.1,36,88,700/- as compensation and directed the appellant/Insurance
Company to pay the above compensation.
7. It is the case of the appellant/Insurance Company that, while fixing
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C.M.A. No.530 of 2020
the income of the deceased, the Tribunal had taken a huge sum of
Rs.74,175.65/- as monthly income of the deceased without properly
deducting the amounts towards personal expenses. Further, the Tribunal
deducted 10% of the amount from the total income of the deceased for
income tax, instead of deducting the income tax at the slab rate applicable
for the year 2016-17.
8. Per contra, the learned counsel for the respondents 1 to
3/claimants made submissions supporting the award passed by the Tribunal.
9. Heard both sides and perused the materials available on record.
10. In order to prove the monthly salary of the deceased, the salary
certificate for the month of April 2016 was produced, which shows that the
deceased had received a sum of Rs.81,194/- per month as salary. Though the
gross monthly income of the deceased is Rs.81,194/-, after deducting the
amount awarded for personal expenses, the monthly income of the deceased
comes to Rs.74,175.65/-. If 50% of the same is added towards future
prospects, the amount comes out to Rs.1,11,263.48/- [74,175.65 +
37,087.83]. Resultantly, the annual income of the deceased comes to
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C.M.A. No.530 of 2020
Rs.13,35,161/- [1,11,263.48 x 12]. The Income tax deduction for the
assessment year 2016-17 is as follows:
Income Percentage of tax Amount of Tax
2,50,000 to 5,00,000 - 10% - 25,000
5,00,000 to 10,00,000 - 20% - 1,00,000
10,00,000 to 13,35,161 - 30% - 1,00,548
Total 2,25,548
The total tax payable is Rs.2,25,548/-. Thus, the actual annual income of the
deceased is Rs.11,09,613/- [13,35,161 - 2,25,548]. Since the number of
dependents of the deceased are 3, 1/3 of the amount is deducted towards
personal expenses and if so deducted, the amount comes Rs.7,39,742/-
[11,09,613 - 3,69,871]. Considering the age of the deceased being 29 years
at the time of the accident, if multiplier "17" is adopted, the Loss of
Dependency comes to Rs.1,25,75,614/-. Therefore, the sum of
Rs.1,36,18,700/- awarded by the Tribunal under the head "Loss of
Dependency" is hereby reduced to Rs.1,25,75,614/-.
11. In addition to that, a sum of Rs.80,000/- is awarded towards Filial
Consortium by awarding a sum of Rs.40,000/- to each of the claimants 2
and 3; Further, the amounts awarded by the Tribunal under the following
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conventional heads are confirmed; viz., Rs.40,000/- towards Consortium to
the first claimant; Rs.15,000/- towards Funeral Expenses; and Rs.15,000/-
towards Loss of Estate. In total, the claimants are entitled for a sum of
Rs.1,27,25,614/- along with interest at the rate of 7.5% from the date of
claim petition till the date of realisation.
12. Thus, the total compensation payable to the claimant is
re-calculated and tabulated below:
S. Heads under which the Amounts awarded Amounts awarded
No. compensation is awarded by the Tribunal in by this Court in Rs.
Rs.
1. Loss of Dependency 1,36,18,700 1,25,75,614
2. Loss of Estate 15,000 15,000
3. Loss of Consortium 40,000 40,000
4. Filial Consortium - 80,000
5. Funeral Expenses 15,000 15,000
Total 1,36,18,700 1,27,25,614
13. In view of the above modifications, the Civil Miscellaneous
Appeal is partly allowed. The appellant/Insurance Company is directed to
deposit the above modified award amount with accrued interest and costs,
less the amount already deposited, if any, within a period of eight weeks
from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. On such deposit, the
claimants 1 and 3 are permitted to withdraw the award amount, less the
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amount already withdrawn, if any, together with proportionate interest and
costs. Insofar as the second claimant / minor child is concerned, his share
shall be deposited by the Tribunal in any Fixed Deposit Scheme in any one
of the Nationalised Banks and it shall be renewed periodically till he attains
majority and the interest accrued thereon shall be withdrawn by the first
claimant / mother once in three months. The apportionment of shares as
fixed by the Tribunal to the claimants is hereby confirmed. No costs.
Consequently, connected Miscellaneous Petition is closed.
[M.K.K.S, J] [V.S.G., J]
07.09.2021
Index : Yes / No
Speaking order: Yes/No
pvs
To
1. The Special Sub Court No.2, Small Causes Court, Chennai
The Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal,
2. The Section Officer,
V.R.Section, High Court, Madras.
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C.M.A. No.530 of 2020
K.KALYANASUNDARAM, J.
and
V.SIVAGNANAM, J.
pvs
C.M.A. No.530 of 2020
07.09.2021
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