ORIENTAL INSURANCE CO LTD Vs. SURESH KUMAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This miscellaneous appeal has been filed by Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd., opposite party No. 3 of the Claim Case No. 14 of 1993.

(2.) The relevant fact was that the claimants of the aforesaid claim case had preferred an application under section 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, for compensation on account of the death of his minor child, 4 years old, who was allegedly killed in an accident that occurred on 7.5.1993. The accident was caused by a motor vehicle bearing registration No. BPK 6874. The Claims Tribunal decided the claim of the applicant Suresh Kumar on the basis of evidence adduced and directed the appellant company to pay compensation of Rs. 1,55,000 with interest at the rate of 12 per cent per annum from 31.5.1993 till realisation.

(3.) The appellant before me submitted that the learned Tribunal adopted a wrong approach in calculating the amount of compensation. The alleged accident took place in the year 1993 when the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, was in force and, therefore, the compensation should not have been calculated on the principles as laid down in the Motor Vehicles Amendment Act, 1994. The Tribunal took the notional income of the deceased child to be Rs. 15,000 on the basis of the Second Schedule of the Motor Vehicles Amendment Act, 1994. So, the Tribunal committed a legal error. Besides the same, a child of four years was not supposed to earn any income in order to contribute to its family and, therefore, the notional income fixed by the Motor Vehicles Amendment Act, 1994, which is for unemployed persons, but who are capable of earning, should not have been used as the basis for calculating the income of the deceased child.