KALA DEVI Vs. SULTAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) MR. Lok Pal Singh, Ad vocate for the appellants. None for the first respondent. MR. Subhash Upadhyaya, Advocate for the second respondent. They are heard. 2. This is claimants' appeal for en hancement of the compensation awarded by the Motor Accident Tribu nal/district Judge, Hardwar, vide Award dated 02-02-1996 passed in Motor Accident Claim Petition No. 5 of 1995. 3. The claimants claimed compen sation of Rs. 16,15,937/- for the death of one Harish Chand, husband of ap pellant No. 1 and father of appellants nos. 2 to 5, in the motor accident on 14-09-1994 when his scooter bearing Registration No. UHQ 7618 was dashed by the offending vehicle bus belonging to the second respondent Haryana Roadways bearing Registra tion No. HR 31-4884 resulting in his instantaneous death on the spot itself. The claimants further pleaded that Harish Chand was in regular service of Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. , Hardwar and was getting salary of about Rs. 5000/- per month. 4. The driver and owner of the of fending bus contested the claim and pleaded that the deceased himself was responsible for the accident and as such they are not liable to pay any compen sation to the claimants. 5. The Tribunal on the evidence led by the parties held that the deceased Harish Chand died on account of the injuries sustained by him in the acci dent and that the accident occurred due to rash and negligent driving by the driver of the offending vehicle- bus. The Tribunal, therefore, held the driver and owner of the offending vehicle- bus li able to pay compensation to the claim ants severally and jointly. Considering the evidence led by the claimants in re gard to the income of the deceased, the Tribunal assessed the income of the de ceased at Rs. 1613/- per month and the dependency of the claimants at Rs. 800/- per month and Rs. 9600/- per annum. By multiplying the annual de pendency of Rs. 9600/- with multiplier of 15, the compensation was assessed at Rs. 1,44,000/ -. The Tribunal further awarded a sum of Rs. 1000/- towards funeral expenses and Rs. 5000/- for loss of consortium to the widow. Thus, a to tal sum of Rs. 1,50,000/- was awarded as compensation to the claimants for the death of Harish Chand in the acci dent with interest @ 12% per annum from the date of application (23-01-1995 ). 6. Sri Lok Pal Singh, learned coun sel for the appellants submits that the Tribunal has erred in assessing the in come of the deceased at Rs. 1613/-only though the salary certificate ad duced in evidence by the claimants es tablished that the deceased's salary was Rs. 3111/ -. 7. Sri Subhash Upadhyaya, learned counsel for the Haryana Roadways on the other hand supports the Award and submits that the Tribu nal has rightly assessed the income of the deceased and the claimants dependency on the material available in the record. 8. The findings that Harish Chand died on account of the injuries sustained by him in the accident and that the accident occurred due to rash and negligent driving of the offending vehi cle are not in dispute in this appeal. 9. Harish Chand was in regular service in Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. Haridwar is established from record. He was getting monthly salary of Rs. 3111/ - is also established from the salary cer tificate filed before the Tribunal. In our opinion, the Tribunal fell into error in assessing the income of the deceased at Rs. 1613/- only. The income of the deceased ought to have been assessed at Rs. 3111/- per month. We, therefore, propose to re-compute the compensa tion taking the income of the deceased at Rs. 3111/-per month. 10. Considering that the deceased was maintaining a scooter, we deem it proper to assess the claimants' depend ency at Rs. 1500/- per month and Rs. 18,000/- per annum. By multiplying the annual dependency of Rs. 18,000/-with multiplier of 15, selected by the Tribunal, the compensation works out to Rs. 2,70,000/ -. By adding the sum of Rs. 1000/- and Rs. 5000/- awarded by the Tribunal towards funeral expenses and loss of consortium to the widow respec tively, the total compensation award-able to the claimants comes to Rs. 2,76,000/ -. 11. The appeal filed by the appel lants under Section 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act, therefore, is allowed in part. The compensation of Rs. 1,50,000/-awarded by the Tribunal is enhanced to Rs. 2,76,000/ -. The en hanced amount of compensation shall carry interest @ 6% per annum from the date of application (23-01-1995 ). No order as to costs. .