Amutha vs Anbalagan
2023 Latest Caselaw 4748 Mad

Citation : 2023 Latest Caselaw 4748 Mad
Judgement Date : 25 April, 2023

Madras High Court

Amutha vs Anbalagan on 25 April, 2023

    2023/MHC/2164




                           BEFORE THE MADURAI BENCH OF MADRAS HIGH COURT

                                             DATED: 25.04.2023

                                                     CORAM:

                            THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE N.SATHISH KUMAR

                                         C.M.A(MD)No.426 of 2023

                     1.Amutha

                     2.karunanithi                   :Appellants/Claimants

                                             .vs.

                     1.Anbalagan

                     2.The Manager(Law),
                       Bharathi Axa General Insurance Company Limited,
                       162, Metro Plaza, Second Floor,
                       Anna Salai,
                       Chennai.                  :Respondents/Respondents

                     (R1 was set exparte before the Tribunal. Hence notice may be
                     given up as against R1)


                     PRAYER: Civil Miscellaneous Appeal filed under Section 173 of the
                     Motor Vehicles Act for enhancement of compensation against the
                     judgment and decretal        order made in M.C.O.P.No.198 of 2011,
                     dated 20.12.2013, on the file of the Motor Accidents Claims
                     Tribunal/Special District Court, Thanjavur.


                                  For Appellant           :Mr.G.Karnan

                                  For Respondent-1        :Exparte before the Tribunal

                                  For Respondent-2        :Mr.P.Pethu Rajesh



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https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis
                                                   JUDGMENT
                                                   *************

This Civil Miscellaneous Appeal is filed seeking enhancement

of compensation by the claimants.

2.The parties are referred to herein as per their ranking

before the Tribunal.

3.The breief facts leading to the filing of the appeal is as

follows:

The deceased Karthi, son of the Petitioners, was aged about

21 years at the time of accident and he was travelling in a motor

cycle bearing Registration NO. TN 45 K 8604 from West to east in

Thanjavur-Nagapattinam Highways and at about 7.30 p.m., the

lorry bearing Registration No. TN 04 L 7374 driven by its driver in

a rash and negligent manner and dashed against the motor cycle

and as a result, the deceased succumbed to injujries and he was

earning a sum of Rs.6000/-p.m. Hence the parents of the deceased

claim compensation.

4.The second respodnent took a stand that the driver of the

lorry has valid driving licence and he had driven the lorry

https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis cautiously and only the decreased drove the motor vehicle in a

rash and negligent manner and caused the accident.

5.Before the Tribunal, on the side of the Petitioners, P.W.1 and

P.W.2 were examined and Ex.P1 to Ex.P4 were marked. On the side

of the respondents, P.W.1 was examined and Ex.R1 was marked.

6.Based on the evidence and other connected materials, the

Tribunal held that the driver of the lorry drove the vehcile in a

rash and negligent manner and caused the accident and these

aspects has not been challenged by the Insurance Company. The

present appeal has been filed challenging only the quantum of

compensation awarded by the Tribunal.The Tribunal has awarded

the compensation as follows:

1.For loss of income - Rs.,5,40,000/-

                     2.For loss of love and      - Rs.30,000/-
                       affection for petitioners
                       1 and 2
                     3.For funeral expenses       - Rs.5000/-
                                                  --------------------
                                  total           - Rs.5,75,000/-
                                                  ---------------------


                                  7.The Tribunal has fixed the    notional income at Rs.4,500/-

and deducted one third amount of the salary towards personal

expenses of the deceased and adopted multiplier of 15 for the age

https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis of the parents/mother. Aggrieved over the same, the present appeal

is filed.

8.It is the main contention of the learned counsel for the

appellants that that the Tribunal has adopted only 15 multiplier

instead of 18. Therefore multiplier 18 has to be applied and

compensation has to be increased accordingly. The Tribunal has

also not added future prospects.Further the tribunal has deducted

one third amount of the salary considering the age of the mother.

As the appeal is limited only to the quantum of compensation, this

Court is of the view that the Tribunal is not correct in deducting

one third and applying multiplier of 15 considering the age of the

mother.

9. It is now well settled that the age of the deceased has to

be taken into consideration for adopting the multiplier. The

deceased is aged 21 years at the time of accident. Accordingly the

proper multiplier is 18.This Court maintained the notional income

fixed by the Tribunal. If the notional income is taken as Rs.4500/-

and if 40% of the income is taken as future prospectus of the

deceased and if it is added to the notional income, the total income

comes to Rs.6300/- and if 50% is deducted towards personal

https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis income of the deceased, the income comes to Rs.3150/- and if the

same is multiplied by 12 x 18, the total loss of income comes to Rs.

6,80,400/-.That apart, the tribunal has only awarded Rs.30,000/- for

loss of love affection to Petitioners 1 and 2 at Rs.15,000/- each and

the same is enhanced to Rs.40,000/- each and it will come to Rs.

80,000/- and the award of Rs.15,000/- towards funeral expenses is

confirmed. Thus the total compensation payable to the claimants

comes to Rs.7,75,400/- which is tabulated as follows:

S.No Name of the Awarded by Awarded by Remarks heads the Tribunal this Court 1 For loss of Rs. Rs. enhanced income 5,40,000/- 6,80,400/-

2 For loss of love Rs.30,000/- Rs.80,000/- enhanced and affection to (Rs.15,000/-

                                    the Petitioners 1 each)
                                    and 2
                      3             For      funeral Rs.15,000/-   Rs.15,000/-   same
                                    expenses
                      6             Total             Rs.          Rs.           enhanced
                                                      5,75,000/-   7,75,400/-

with interest at the rate of 7.5%p.a., from the date of claim petition

till the date of realization.

10.In the result, the Civil Miscellaneous Appeal is allowed

and the compensation awarded by the Tribunal is enhanced from

https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis Rs.5,75,000/- to Rs.7,75,400/- with interest at the rate of 7.5%p.a.,

from the date of claim petition till the date of realization. The

appellants are not entitled to interest for the delay period of 510

days as per order in C.M.P(MD)No.4677 of 2019, dated 30.3.2023.

The second respondent Insurance Company is directed to deposit

the above said enhanced award amount with accrued interest and

costs, less the award amount if any already deposited, to the credit

of the claim petition before the Tribunal, within a period of four