D.T.C. Vs. JAI RANI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) MALIK Sharief-Ud-Din, J, 1. The appellant is aggrieved of an order dated 21 st of March 1979 passed by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal awarding a sum of Rs. 1,00,000/- as compensation in favor of the contesting respondents. The Tribunal further allowed costs and interest at the rate of 3% per annum from the date of application till the date of award and at the rate of 6% per annum from the date of award till the date of final payment.

(2.) THE claim arose consequent to an incident dated 12th of November 1970 when at about 10.50 a.m. one Arjun Dev Malik along with his wife Jai Rani and Ashwani Kumar, his minor son, met with an accident while traveling in a three-wheeler scooter DLR 9302. The accident was caused at the hands of a DTC bus No. DLP-10 which, at the time of the accident, was being driven recklessly as the driver of the bus was accelerating the speed with a view to overtake a truck. It was in this process of reckless driving that it swerved to the wrong side and hit the scooter, overturning toe three-wheeler. It was due to this that Arjun Dcv Malik deceased sustained fatal injuries and died. His wife Jai Rani also received extensive injuries.

(3.) I may notice that the Tribunal has very fairly and satisfactorily, in my view, assessed the evidence. While trying to find out as to the amount of compensation which could reasonably and properly be allowed in favor of the dependents, the Tribunal on the basis of evidence found out that the monthly contribution of the deceased towards his dependents was about Rs. 800/-. This the Tribunal tried to divide by 12 and a multiple of 22 and found that in this manner a sum of Rs. 2,11,000/- was to be awarded. But on a further consideration in view of the case law a multiple of 15 was used and the amount was calculated at Rs. 1,44,000/-. Thereafter, the learned Presiding Officer went on deducting from this amount on account of income likely to accrue from the life insurance policy of the deceased and on certain other accounts thereby reducing the amount to Rs. l,00,000/-which in the opinion of the Tribunal was the proper compensation in this case that would meet the ends of justice.