LILABEN Vs. PUNAMBHAI GOKULBHAI MODI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present First Appeal, under Sec. 173 of Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, is preferred by the appellants being aggrieved and dissatisfied with the common judgment and award dtd. 18/7/2006 passed by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (Main.), Patan in Motor Accident Claim Petition No. 2227 of 2002 (Old M.A.C.T No. 1532 of 1996) by which the Tribunal has awarded compensation of Rs.2,69,824.00 with 7.5% interest per annum to the claimants.

(2.) Brief facts of the case are as under:

(3.) Learned advocate Mr. Yogendra Thakore for the appellants - claimants has submitted that the Tribunal has committed gross error in not awarding sufficient compensation under the different heads. He has further submitted that date of accident is 28/10/1996 and at the relevant point of time, deceased Narsangji Juhaji Thakore was 37 years and he was serving in Indian Railway. He has submitted that the tribunal has committed an error in considering the amount under the head of dependency benefits. He has submitted that the Tribunal has deducted 1/3rd amount towards personal expenses which should be 1/5th looking to the fact that there are total 7 dependents. He has further submitted that he actual salary is rightly considered as Rs.25, 295.00 per annum as per the salary certificate. But,the Tribunal has failed to grant any amount towards prospective income which should be at least 50% keeping in view the ratio laid down by the Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of National Insurance Company Limited versus Pranay Shethi reported in (2017) 16 SCC 680 He has fairly submitted that Tribunal has awarded multiplier of 16 which should be 15. He has further submitted that the Tribunal has not properly considered any amount towards Loss of consortium, loss of estate and funeral expenses and transportation expenses. He has submitted that in view of decision of United India Insurance Company Limited Vs. Satinder Kaur reported in 2021(11) SCC 780 and Magma General Insurance Company Limited versus Nanu Ram and others reported in (2018) 18 SCC 130, each of 7 claimants will be entitled for Rs.40,000.00 to the applicant No.1 - deceased and therefore, Rs.2,80,000.00 towards loss of consortium was required to be awarded by the Tribunal and Rs.15,000.00 each under the heads of loss of estate and funeral expenses was required to be awarded. Therefore, he has prayed that considering the above mentioned circumstances and more particularly considering the decision of Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of Sarla Verma versus Delhi Transport Corporation (Supra) and Pranay Shethi (Supra) and Satindar Kaur (Supra), appropriate enhancement may be awarded. Therefore, He has submitted that the compensation is required to be enhanced by modifying the impugned award accordingly.