SOMWATI & OTHERS Vs. DHARMENDRA KUMAR & ANOTHER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Heard Mohd. Asim, Advocate holding brief of Sri Ram Singh, the counsel for the appellants and Sri Parv Agrawal, the counsel for respondent no. 2-Insurance Company.

(2.) The present appeal has been filed by the claimants under Sec. 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (hereinafter referred to as, 'Act, 1988') praying to increase the compensation awarded by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Kaushambi through its award dated 22.3.2003 passed in Motor Accident Claim Petition No. 7 of 2002.

(3.) Motor Accident Claim Petition No. 7 of 2002 was filed by the claimants alleging that one Ram Jiyawan died on 5/6.12.2001 in an accident caused due to the rash and negligent driving of Truck No. U.P.-78N/5378 (hereinafter referred to as, 'Offending Vehicle'). The respondent no. 1 is the owner of the offending vehicle which was insured with respondent no. 2. It was alleged in the claim petition that at the time of his death, Ram Jiyawan was earning Rs.5,000.00 per month by working as labour and from his agricultural holding and by trading in pigs. The claimants prayed for a compensation of Rs.15,25,000.00 for the death of the deceased. The claimants are the wife and the minor children of the deceased. The respondent nos. 1 and 2 filed their written statements denying the factum of accident as well as the negligence of the driver of the offending vehicle in causing the accident and also the entitlement of the claimants to compensation. The Tribunal framed Issues regarding the factum of accident, the negligence of the driver of the offending vehicle in causing the accident, the inter se liability of the defendants to pay compensation as well as the amount of compensation to which the claimants were entitled. As the present appeal has been filed by the claimants for increasing the compensation amount, therefore, I am not entering into the details of the findings of the Tribunal regarding the factum of accident, the negligence of the driver of the offending vehicle in causing the accident and the inter se liability of the defendants to pay compensation to the claimants. It is sufficient to state that in its award dated 22.3.2003, the Tribunal decided the Issues regarding the factum of accident and the negligence of the driver of the offending vehicle in favour of the claimants and held the Insurance Company liable to pay compensation. The Tribunal awarded a compensation of Rs.1,57,000.00 to the claimants after deducting 1/3rd as personal expenses of the deceased from the notional income of Rs.15,000.00 per annum and by applying a multiplier of 15 because at the time of accident, the deceased was 45 years old. The Tribunal awarded a compensation of Rs.5,000.00 to the claimant/appellant no. 1 for loss of consortium and an additional compensation of Rs.2,000.00 for funeral expenses.