(1.) THE appellants in this appeal challenge the quantum of compensation awarded to them in respect of death of their five year old son who died instantaneously while pillion riding the bicycle of one Narahari Pradhan on being hit by the offending vehicle, a truck bearing registration No. OSC 7879 belonging to the respondent No. 1. While the claim was made for Rs. 20,000/ -, the learned Tribunal awarded a sum of Rs. 8,000/ -as the compensation, half and half to the two appellants with interest at the rate of 6 per cent per annum from the date of the claim application. Mr. Mohanty, the learned counsel for the appellants, has urged that the victim being aged five years at the time of the accident, would have lived much longer at least up to the age of seventy and would have rendered financial assistance to the parents of which the parents were deprived by the accident and hence they were entitled to higher compensation.
(2.) ADMITTEDLY , appellant No. 1 is an agriculturist having five acres of land. Though nothing was stated in the claim petition, yet it has come in evidence that the victim boy was the only son. The further evidence led that appellant No. 2 had undergone an operation was not mentioned in the claim petition and that apart without any evidence as to what type of operation she had undergone, it is difficult to accept the submission of the learned counsel for the appellants that it was a caesarean operation preventing any further conception of her. But the fact that appellant No. 1 was an agriculturist with five acres of land would show that the appellants would have been able to educate their child to some extent had he lived so as to enable him to get an employment or pursue any other gainful avocation and that he would have been a source of financial support to his parents. Though some decisions were cited on both sides as regards compensation to be paid in case of a victim child, yet I find that in almost a similar case in Basanta Kumar Sahu v. ShyamsunderAgarwalla 1977 ACJ 359 (Orissa), a Division Bench of this court had held Rs. 8,000/ - as compensation payable due to death of a child of five years. There is no dispute that since 1977 till 20.1.1980 when the accident occurred and even till the present day the inflation has steadily increased and prices of every article have gone up. Taking such facts into consideration, I hold that a compensation of Rs. 8,000/ - is inadequate and that it should at least be doubled as just compensation payable under the Act. It is as such directed that the award of the Tribunal is modified by making compensation payable to the appellants at Rs. 16,000/ - with interest at 6 per cent per annum from the date of the claim application. The amount of compensation will be apportioned between the two appellants half and half. Payment of compensation should be made within six weeks excluding the amount already paid after expiry of which period interest at the rate of 16 per cent per annum shall become payable on the same. Out of the amount so awarded, the amount payable to appellant No. 2 be kept in a fixed deposit in a scheduled bank for a term of six years in her favour. The learned Tribunal shall see to the necessary deposit being made and the other formalities completed. The records be transmitted to the Tribunal forthwith.