ANITA KEJRIWAL Vs. SHYAM LAL SHARMA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE appellants in this appeal, who are the legal representatives of one Deoki Nandan Kejriwal, seek enhancement of the compensation awarded to them by the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal by its judgment and award dated 31.05.2003 on account of the accidental death of the said Shri Deoki Nandan Kejriwal in a road accident.

(2.) THE aforesaid road accident in which Shri Deoki Nandan Kejriwal (hereinafter referred to as "the deceased"), along with his driver, met with an untimely death took place on 20th April, 1996 on the road from Delhi to Agra, when the car of the deceased was hit by the offending truck near Village Ajhai, District Mathura, Uttar Pradesh. A First Information Report in respect of the accident was registered with Police Station Vrindavan under Sections 279/338/304- A IPC against the driver of the offending truck. On a Claim Petition filed by the legal representatives of the deceased, being Suit No.941/96, the learned Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal held that the accident was the outcome of the rash and negligent driving of the driver of the offending truck. THE learned Tribunal then proceeded to assess the income of the deceased on the basis of his income-tax return Ex.PW3/2, and after deducting income-tax therefrom at ` 1,000/- per month, assessed that the deceased at the time of his demise was earning ` 9,000/- per month. Significantly, the Tribunal noted that this position about the income of the deceased had been ultimately conceded by the counsel for the petitioners, and held that it would be reasonable to assume that the deceased was spending one- third (1/3rd) of his aforesaid income upon himself, and thus the annual loss of dependency of his legal representatives was computed by the Tribunal to be in the sum of ` 72,000/- (` 9,000/- x 2/3 x 12). Taking note of the fact that the date of birth of the deceased was 27.12.1950 and at the time of his demise, he was 45 years of age, the Tribunal applied the multiplier of 13 to the aforesaid multiplicand, and accordingly assessed the total loss of dependency of the claimants to be in the sum of ` 9,36,000/-. To this amount, the Tribunal added ` 5,000/- towards funeral expenses and ` 10,000/- towards the loss of love and affection of the deceased. An award was accordingly passed by the learned Tribunal in the sum of ` 9,51,000/- (inclusive of interim compensation) alongwith interest thereon at the rate of 9% per annum from the date of the filing of the petition till the date of realisation. Aggrieved therefrom, the legal representatives of the deceased have preferred the present appeal on the ground that the award has not been passed in accordance with the settled principles of law with regard to the computation of the loss of dependency of the legal representatives of the deceased victim.

(3.) AS regards the addition of the house rent allowance to the income of the deceased, the Supreme Court in the case of Raghuvir Singh Matolya & Ors. vs. Hari Singh Malviya & Ors., (2009)15 SCC 363, has made the following pertinent observations, (page 365)