ORIENTAL INSURANCE CO LTD Vs. KANIKA ARORA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE Appellant Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd. impugns a judgment dated 07.12.2011 passed by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal(the Claims Tribunal) whereby a compensation of Rs.23,22,085/- was awarded in favour of the Respondents No.1 to 3 for the death of Pankaj Arora who died in a motor vehicle accident which occurred on 28.10.2006.

(2.) ON appreciation of evidence, the Claims Tribunal found that the accident was caused because of wrongful parking of a U.P. Roadways bus No.UP- 80-AC-9858 in the middle of the road and on account of contributory negligence on the part of the deceased. Since the deceased himself was held to have contributed to the accident, the compensation was reduced by 50%.

(3.) I have before me the Income Tax Return for the A.Y. 2006-07 (for previous year 2005-06) Ex.PW1/9. It contains the details of the income tax returned. A perusal of the document Ex.PW1/10 (the details filed with the Income Tax Return) shows that a sum of Rs.10,675/- was deducted at source by Essco Sanitation and a sum of Rs.10,940/- was deducted as TDS by M/s. Jaquar & Co. Ltd. Advance Tax of Rs.2,500/- was deposited by the deceased on 15.12.2005. Only a tax of Rs.3,403/-, out of a total tax of Rs.27,518/- was deposited on 03.11.2006, that is, after the death of the deceased. In the circumstances, it could not have been said that the income was inflated by the legal representatives of the deceased after the death and thus the Claims Tribunal rightly granted the loss of dependency on the basis of Income Tax Return filed on 03.11.2006. In V. Subbulakshmi, it was not laid down as a proposition that the Income Tax Return filed after the death of the deceased cannot be taken into consideration at all. Since there is nothing to suspect the income returned in the Income Tax Return Ex.PW1/9, the Claims Tribunal rightly granted the loss of dependency on the basis of the aforementioned Income Tax Return. There is no ground to interfere with the impugned judgment.