RAJANI Vs. ORIENTAL INSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted.

(2.) The High Court of Kerala allowed a First Appeal against a judgment of the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal[1] dtd. 30/1/2017. The MACT awarded an amount of Rs.26,75,000.00 taking into account the base income of the deceased as Rs.12,000.00 per month. The High Court reduced the income computed from Rs.12,000.00 to Rs.10,000..00 In doing so, the High Court relied upon the decisions of this Court in Ramachandrappa vs Manager, Royal Sundaram Alliance Insurance Company Limited, (2011) 13 SCC 236 and Syed Sadiq vs Divisional Manager, United India Insurance Co Ltd, (2014) 2 SCC 735 where this Court had reckoned the monthly income in those cases at Rs.4,500.00 and Rs.6,500.00 per month in the context of accidents which took place in 2004 and 2008 respectively. [1] 'MACT'

(3.) In the present case, the deceased was a pineapple cultivator. The accident took place on 1/10/2015. In such matters, a robust view has to be taken of the quantum of earnings since documentary evidence may not be available to specifically prove the quantum of earnings of a self-cultivating agriculturist. In our view, the income which was adopted by the MACT of Rs.12,000.00 per month cannot be regarded as disproportionate or arbitrary. Hence, there was no justification for the High Court to interfere with the award by reducing the quantum of income of the deceased from Rs.12,000.00 to Rs.10,000.00 per month.