ORIENTAL INSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED Vs. SHIVAMMA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE insurer of the offending vehicle, aggrieved by the judgment and award dated 30th July, 2005 in MVC 151/2004 on the file of the Court of the Judge, small Causes and Addl. Motor Accident claims Tribunal, Mysore, for short MACT, has preferred this appeal.

(2.) ONE Puttamari succumbed to injuries in a motor vehicle accident that occurred on 9-6-2003, resulting in his sister-in-law and nephew by name Shivamma and Prabhakar, respectively lodging a claim for Rs. 8,06,000/-as compensation. The insurer opposed the claim as well as the relationship of the claimants with the deceased. The MACT, on adjudication of the claims, held that the claimants were legal representatives of the deceased en titled to compensation, reckoned Rs. 100/- per day as the income of the deceased, being in the age group of 55 to 60 years, applied multiplier '8' deducted 1/2 of the income towards personal expenses of the deceased a bachelor, and awarded Rs. 1,44,000/- for loss of dependency, to which was added Rs. 10,000/- towards loss of expectation of life and Rs. 3000/-towards funeral expenses totalling to Rs. 1,57,000/- with interest at 6% per annum, by the impugned Judgment and Award.

(3.) LEARNED counsel for the appellant contends that the MACT fell in error in not noiticing the fact that the claimants though legal representatives of the deceased Puttamari, were not dependant on the income of the deceased and at best were entitled to a nominal sum as compensation towards loss to estate land definitely, not compensation for loss of dependency: In other words, learned counsel submits that determination of loss to estate, required the MACT to reckon the annual savings of the deceased and apply the relevant multiplier.