BAJAJ ALLIANZ GENERAL INSURANCE COMPANY LTD. Vs. POOJA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The first to third respondents (collectively, the claimants) had instituted accident claim case (case no. 473/2010) on 18.10.2010 in the wake of a detailed accident report (DAR) submitted by the local police on the basis of investigation into the corresponding criminal case (first information report) that had been registered, seeking compensation under sections 166 and 140 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 on account of the death of Jitender Uppal in a motor vehicular accident that took place on 15.08.2010 due to the negligent driving of a motor vehicle described as Tavera bearing registration no.DL-1YA-9291. From amongst the parties which were impleaded as respondents, the appellant herein, it admittedly being the insurer of the offending vehicle, only put in contest, the driver and owner of the said vehicle, they being the fourth and fifth respondents in appeal, having failed to file any written statement.

(2.) The Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (Tribunal) held inquiry and, by judgment dated 10.05.2011, accepted the case that death had occurred on account of the accident which had been caused due to the negligent driving of the said vehicle. The tribunal determined compensation in the total sum of L 13,78,016/- and directed the appellant (insurer) to pay with interest at the rate of 7.5% p.a., the said amount inclusive of L 12,38,016/- towards loss of dependency. While calculating the said amount, the tribunal, in absence of any cogent evidence about the nature of avocation or earnings of the deceased, adopted the minimum wages payable to a matriculate ( L 6448) as the notional income on which the element of future prospects of increase to the extent of 50% was added and, after deduction on account of the personal and living expenses to the extent of one-third, the multiplier of 16 applied, the age of the deceased at the relevant point of time being 31 years.

(3.) The appeal of the insurer is pressed questioning the correctness of computation of compensation, reliance being placed on the judgment dated 31.10.2017 of a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court in 2017(4) R.C.R.(Civil) 1009 : 2017(6) Recent Apex Judgments (R.A.J.) 143 : SLP (C) 25590/2014, National Insurance Company Ltd. v. Pranay Sethi and Ors.