RAMESH RANI Vs. DHARMENDER KUMAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE Appellants who are the legal heirs of Ramji Das Kapur seeks enhancement of compensation in respect of his death in a motor accident, which took place on 15.04.1996. THE Appellants grievance is that the deceased owned three Tempos as proved by PW-4 yet the Tribunal took the minimum wages of an unskilled worker i.e. Rs. 2,100/- and calculated the loss of dependency by applying the multiplier of '5' and deducting one third towards the personal expenses. After adding Rs. 10,000/- towards non-pecuniary damages, the Tribunal awarded an overall compensation of Rs. 1,11,000/-. THE Appellants urge that Ramji Das Kapur owned three Tempos and the Tribunal erred in taking the deceased's income to be just Rs. 2,100/- per month. THE learned counsel for the Appellant relied on Section 44 AE of the Income Tax Act, which provides that income of a Transporter, who owns a goods carriage other than a heavy vehicle would be estimated Rs. 1,800/- for every month or part of the month, during which goods carriage was owned by the assessee. It is not in dispute that the deceased Ramji Das Kapur was not paying any income tax. THE provisions of Section 44 AE was only to keep check on persons owning a goods vehicle from evading income tax. Obviously if the deceased had income of more than Rs. 40,000/- per annum on the date of the accident, he was liable to pay tax. It has come in the evidence of PW-2 Lokesh Kapur that the Tempos were sold after the death of Ramji Das Kapur. In the circumstances, I would assess the deceased's income for supervision of the three Tempos to be Rs. 40,000/- per annum. None of the Appellants (Claimants) were financially dependent on the deceased thus I would deduct 50% of the deceased's income towards his personal living expenses and by applying the multiplier of '7' at the deceased's age i.e. 64 years, the loss of dependency or loss of estate would come to Rs. 40,000/- ? 2 x 7 = Rs. 1,40,000/-. THE Appellants would further be entitled to a sum of Rs. 20,000/- towards loss of love and affection and Rs. 10,000/- towards funeral expenses. THE overall compensation is enhanced to Rs. 59,000/-, which shall carry interest @ 7.5% per annum for 2 ? years till the award by the Tribunal and thereafter from the date of the award i.e. 12.11.2002 till the date of payment. THE enhanced amount shall be deposited within 30 days with the Registrar General, which shall be released to the Appellants in the same proportion as awarded by the Tribunal forthwith.

(2.) THE appeal is allowed in above terms.