NATIONAL INSURANCE COMPANY LTD Vs. ANJU RANI BAKSHI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE insurance company is in appeal.

(2.) THE respondents, who are the legal heirs of one Sanjith Kumar, who met with his death in a road traffic accident occurred on 12/03/2000, while riding his motorcycle which collided with a bus belonging to the respondent corporation, claimed a sum of Rs.4 lakhs, against which the learned Tribunal awarded a sum of Rs.7,92,500/- as compensation. In this appeal, the appellant insurance company, who is the insurer of the offending vehicle is challenging the amount of compensation awarded by the learned Tribunal towards loss of dependency on the ground that the learned Tribunal has adopted a higher multiplicand without the support of any documents.

(3.) WE also notice that no evidence is forth coming regarding the income earned by the deceased. The accident was in the year 2000. Taking into account the age of the deceased, the year in which the accident had occurred as well as the qualification of the deceased, we feel justified in fixing the monthly income of the deceased at Rs.4,000/-. The correct multiplier applicable to the age group of the deceased as per the decision of the Apex Court in Sarla Verma v. Delhi Transport Corporation (2010 (2) KLT 802 (SC)) is 15. As there were only three dependents, one third of the amount has to be deducted in consideration of the expenses which the deceased would have incurred had he been alive. When the dependency compensation is recalculated as above, it will stand reduced by Rs.2,88,000/-. We see no reason to interfere with the amounts awarded under other heads. The Appeal is allowed and the award is modified to the above extent only. No costs.