ORIENTAL INSURANCE CO. LTD. Vs. RADHA & ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE Appeal is for reduction of compensation of Rs. 11,11,500/ - awarded by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (the Claims Tribunal) in favour of the Respondents No. 1 to 7 for the death of Ram Bahadur who died in a motor vehicle accident which occurred on 08.02.2009. The finding on negligence reached by the Claims Tribunal is not challenged by the Appellant Insurance Company; thus the same has attained finality.

(2.) DURING inquiry before the Claims Tribunal, it was claimed that the deceased was employed as a security guard and was earning Rs. 5,000/ - per month. In the absence of any evidence with regard to the deceased's employment or income, the Claims Tribunal adopted minimum wages of an unskilled worker to compute the loss of dependency. The Claims Tribunal added 50% towards inflation, deducted 1/5th towards personal and living expenses (as number of dependents were 7) and applied the multiplier of 16 as per the age of the deceased (28 years). The Claims Tribunal awarded a sum of Rs. 1,75,000/ - towards loss of love and affection and Rs. 10,000/ - each towards loss of consortium, loss to estate and funeral expenses. The following contentions are raised on behalf of the Appellant:

(3.) ADMITTEDLY , there was no evidence with regard to the deceased's future prospects. In view of the judgment of the Supreme Court in Bijoy Kumar Dugar v. Bidya Dhar Dutta & Ors., : (2006) 3 SCC 242 and Sarla Verma & Ors. v. Delhi Transport Corporation & Anr., : (2009) 6 SCC 121, addition of 50% towards future prospects could not have been made by the Claims Tribunal. However, an addition of 30% towards inflation should have been made on the basis of the report in Santosh Devi v. National Insurance Company Ltd. & Ors., : 2012(4) SCALE 559.