BANDANA Vs. RAJESH KUMAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Appeal is for enhancement of compensation of Rs.4,89,488/- for the death of Prem Chand Chaurasia, who was aged about 24 years at the time of the accident, which took place on 16.11.2008.

(2.) The Appellants preferred a Petition on the basis of the structured formula as given in the Second Schedule under Section 163-A of the Motor Vehicles Act (the Act). The deceased's income was claimed to be Rs.40,000/- per annum. The Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, (the Claims Tribunal) accepted the said income as the minimum wages of an unskilled worker on the date of the accident were more than the amount of Rs.40,000/-. The Claims Tribunal deducted one-third towards the personal and living expenses and applied the multiplier of '18' as per the Second Schedule to arrive at the loss of dependency of Rs.4,79,988/-. The Claims Tribunal further awarded notional sum of Rs. 9,500/- towards the non-pecuniary damages to arrive at the figure of Rs.4,89,488/-. It held that the deceased himself contributed to the accident to the extent of 25% because he was walking after consuming alcohol on a public road at night time. The compensation was thus reduced to Rs.3,67,116/-.

(3.) The learned counsel for the Appellants contend that the Tribunal committed an error in holding that the deceased contributed to the accident simply on the ground that there was mention of smell of alcohol in the deceased's MLC at the time of his admission in the hospital. Admittedly, there was no evidence that the deceased was under the influence of liquor, his gate was unsteady or that he was unable to move on a public road.