Partly allowed

Smt. Aruna Devi and 3 Others v. National Insurance Co. Ltd. and 2 Others

Allahabad HC20 Sept 2022FAFO/390/2021

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

The Allahabad High Court allowed a partial appeal in a motor accident claim for death. Enhanced future prospect to 10% and corrected deduction for personal expenses to 1/4th. Directed retrial of interest calculation from the date of petition filing.

What did the court decide?

Enhancement of future prospect to 10%, correction of personal expense deduction to 1/4th, and direction to award interest from the date of institution of the claim petition.

Smt. Aruna Devi and 3 Others Vs National Insurance… — Motor Accident Claims | Allahabad HC (2022)

¶1

Court No. - 5

¶2

Case :- FIRST APPEAL FROM ORDER No. - 390 of 2021

¶3

Appellant :- Smt. Aruna Devi And 3 Others Respondent :- National Insurance Co. Ltd And 2 Others Counsel for Appellant :- Krishna Mohan Rai Counsel for Respondent :- Rajesh Kumar

¶4

Hon'ble Saral Srivastava,J.

¶5

Heard learned counsel for the appellants and learned counsel for the respondents.

¶6

The present appeal has been preferred for enhancement of compensation against the award dated 28.10.2020 passed by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal/District Judge, Firozabad in in MACP No.245 of 2017, by which the Tribunal has awarded Rs.6,08,000/- along with 7% interest as compensation to the claimants/appellants for the death of one Devendra Singh, Advocate, who died in an accident with container No.DL1 GC4451.

¶7

Challenging the award, learned counsel for the appellants has contended that considering the age of the deceased, the claimants/appellants are entitled 10% future prospect. It is contended that there are four dependents upon the deceased, therefore, the compensation should have been computed by deducting 1/4th towards future prospect in place of 1/3rd. Lastly, it is contended that the Tribunal has erred in law in awarding the interest from the date of the award, rather the claimants/appellants are entitled to the interest from the date of institution of claim petition.

¶8

Per contra, learned counsel for the respondents has submitted that the compensation awarded by the Tribunal is just and adequate and as such, no interference is called for by this Court. I have heard learned counsel counsel for the parties and perused the record.

¶9

Be that as it may, the deceased was aged about 53 years and was an Advocate, therefore, in view of the judgement of the Apex Court in the case of National Insurance Company Limited Vs. Pranay Sethi and Others (supra) , the claimants/appellants are entitled to 10% future prospect, accordingly, this Court awards 10% towards future prospect. It is further established on record that there are four dependents of the deceased,and therefore, the Tribunal should have deducted 1/4th in place of 1/3rd towards personal expenses in view of the judgement of the Apex Court in the case of Sarla Verma and others Vs. Delhi Transport Corporation and others 2009 (6) SCC 121. Accordingly, this Court holds that the compensation should be computed by deducting 1/4th towards personal expenses in place of 1/3rd.

¶10

It is also settled in law that the claimants/appellants are entitled to the interest from the date of institution of claim petition, therefore, the Tribunal has erred in law in awarding the interest from the date of the award, rather it should be from the date of institution of claim petition. Accordingly, this Court directs the Tribunal to award interest to the claimants/appellants from the date of institution of claim petition.

¶11

The Tribunal is directed to compute the compensation in the light of the directions given above. The enhanced amount of compensation shall carry 6% simple interest from the date of institution of claim petition till the payment of award.

¶12

For the reasons given above, the appeal is partly allowed and award of the Tribunal is modified to the extent indicated above. There shall be no order as to cost.

¶13

Order Date :- 20.9.2022 NS

¶14

Digitally signed by NITIN KUMAR Date: 2022.09.29 11:06:58 IST Reason: Location: High Court of Judicature at Allahabad

Smt. Aruna Devi and 3 Others v. National Insurance Co. Ltd. and 2 Others

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

Smt. Aruna Devi and 3 Others v. National Insurance Co. Ltd. and 2 Others

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

What the court decided

A compact analysis

Issues for consideration

Cases cited

Statutes considered

Parties & counsel

Coram

Case details

Similar cases

Rajesh Kumar Gupta Vs Vinod Kumar Gupta and Ors.

Ram Devi and 5 Others Vs Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd. and 2 Others

Surendra Yadav Vs Branch Manager

M/S Sterling Machin Tools and Another Vs A.K. Enterprises and Others

Indusind Bank Ltd. and Another Vs Smt. Anjali

Virendar Kumar Rai Vs Harish Chandra Rai and Others