Partly allowed

Nandu Devi and Others v. Dinesh Patkar and Others

Chhattisgarh HC19 Jun 2012MAC/1167/2008

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

In a motor accident claim appeal, the High Court allowed the claimants in part. The Court re-calculated compensation by adjusting personal expense deductions and applying the correct multiplier, enhancing the award from Rs.3,91,500/- to Rs.4,20,000/- plus interest.

What did the court decide?

Compensation enhanced to Rs.4,20,000/- plus interest of Rs.3,500/-; insurer directed to deposit Rs.32,000/- within three months.

Nandu Devi and Others Vs Dinesh Patkar and Others — Insurance | Chhattisgarh HC (2012)

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HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR

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DIVISION BENCH

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CORAM: HON' HON' WIi	BLE SH BLE SH sc.App	RI RAJEEV GUPTA, C.J. & RI RANGNATH CHANDRAKAR, J. eal (C) No. 1167 of2008
Appellants Claimants		Smt. Nandu Devi, aged 32 years w/o lateAshok KumarSingh,
		Neeraj Kumar Singh, aged 10 year s/o late Ashok KumarSingh,
		Ku. Pooja, aged 8 years, d/o late Ashok Kumar Singh,
		Kaushal Kumar Singh, aged 6 years, s/o late Ashok KumarSingh,
		Achal Kumar Singh, aged 4 years, s/o lateAshok Kumar Singh,
		Aman Kumar Singh, aged 2 years, s/o lateAshok Kumar Singh,
		Appellants No.2 to 6 through their mother, natural guardian Smt. Nandu Devi, nextfriend.
		Smt. Govardhani Devi, aged 68 years, ^{w/o late Munshi Singh,}
	8.	Meera Kumari, aged 22 years, d/o late Munshi Singh, All resident of village Mahua, thana Madanpur, police station Madanpur, districtAurangabad (Bihar) VERSUS
Respondents (Non-applicants)		Dinesh Patkar, aged 32 years, s/o Shebu Alias Patkar, r/o Shanakar Nagar,,,Simga.
		Mureet MRG Travels, s/o Jait Ram, r/o Tihupara, Simga, district Raipur.

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.A.C.No. 1167 of 2008

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The New India Insurance Co. Ltd., 2nd floor, R.D.A. Building, Raipur C.G.

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Memo of appeal under Section 173 of Motor Vehicle Act

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Present: Shri G.S. Agrawal, Senior Counsel with Smt. Meera Jaiswal, counsel for the appellants. Shri Dashrath Gupta and Shri P. Dutta, counsel for respondent No.3.

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I.SJS

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ORDER (19thJune,2012)

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The following order of the Court was passed by

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Rajeev Gupta, C.J.

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This is claimants' appeal for enhancement of the compensation awarded by the Third Additional Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Raipur (for short 'the Tribunal') vide award dated 28.04.2008, passed in Claim Case No.07/2007.

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As against the compensation of Rs.15,94,000/- claimed by the appellants/ claimants, unfortunate widow, minor children, mother and sister of deceased Ashok Kumar Singh, by filing a claim petition under Section 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act, for his death in the motor accident on 27.09.2006, the Tribunal awarded a total sum of Rs.3,91,500/- as compensation along with interest @ 6% per annum from the date of filing of the claim petition till the date ofactual payment.

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The Tribunal on a close scrutiny of the entire evidence led before it held that deceased Ashok Kumar Singh died on account of the injuries sustained by him in the motor accident on 27.09.2006; the accident occurred due to rash and negligent

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.A.C.No. 1167 of 2008

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driving of the driver of the offending vehicle Bus bearing registration No.CG-04GE/0413; as the above offending vehicle Bus on the date of the accident was insured with the New India Insurance Company Limited and the insurance company could not establish any breach of the policy conditions, the Insurance Company was liable to pay compensation to the claimants.

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As the insurer of the above offending vehicle Bus has not filed any appeal against the impugned award challenging the above findings recorded by the Tribunal, the same now have attained finality.

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The Tribunal assessed the income of the deceased at Rs.3,000/- per month and Rs.36,000/- per annum. By deducting 1/3 of Rs.36,000/- towards the personal expenses of the deceased, the claimants' dependency was assessed at Rs.24,000/- per annum. By multiplying the annual dependency of Rs.24,000/- with the multiplier of 16, the compensation was worked out to Rs.3,24,000/-. By awarding further sum of Rs.7,500/- under other heads, the Tribunal awarded a total sum of Rs.3,91,500/- as compensation to the claimants for the death of deceased Ashok Kumar Singh in the motor accident. The Tribunal further directed payment of interest on the above amount of compensation of Rs.3,91,500/- @ 6% per annum from the date offiling ofthe claim petition till the date of actual payment. 6) Shri G.S. Agrawal, learned Senior Counsel with Smt. Meera Jaiswal, learned counsel for the appellants submitted that the Tribunal has erred in not accepting the claimants' evidence about

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M.A.C.No.1167 of 2008

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the income of the deceased and in assessing his income at Rs.3,000/per month and Rs.36,000/per annum only; in deducting 1/3 in place of 1/4 of the income of the deceased towards his personal expenses; and in awarding low compensation of Rs.3,91,500/- only.

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Shri Dashrath Gupta and Shri P. Dutta, learned counsel for respondent No.3, the New India Insurance Company Limited, the insurer of the offending vehicle Bus, on the other hand, supported the award and contended that the compensation of Rs.3,91,500/awarded by the Tribunal is just and proper compensation in the facts and circumstances of the present case.

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True, the claimants pleaded that deceased Ashok Kumar Singh used to earn Rs.9,000/- per month as Manager in a Travelling Agency, no cogent and reliable evidence was led before the Tribunal for establishing the income of the deceased to the extent of Rs.9,000/- per month. In this state of evidence, we do not find any infirmity in the assessment of the income of the deceased by the Tribunal on its own estimate at Rs.3,000/- per month and Rs.36,000/- per annum.

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Nevertheless, the Tribunal has certainly erred in deducting 1/3 of the income of the deceased towards his personal expenses. Considering the number of the claimants who all were dependent on the income of the deceased, we are of the opinion that the Tribunal ought to have deducted 1/4th of the income of the deceased towards his personal expenses, we, therefore, propose to recompute the compensation by deducting only 1/4 of the

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M.A.C.NO. 1167 of 2008

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income of the ,deceased towards his personal expenses. The claimants' dependency, therefore, is assessed at Rs.27,000/- per annum by deducting 1/4 of Rs.36,000/- towards the personal expenses of the deceased.

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Deceased Ashok Kumar Singh was shown to be 38 years of age in his postmortem repori:. The dictum of the Apex Court in the case of Sarla Verma (Smt) and Others Versus Delhi Transport Corporation and another, reported in (2009) 6 SCC 121 prescribes the multiplier of 15 for the age group between 36-40 years. In our opinion, multiplier of 15, therefore, would be appropriate in the present case.

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By multiplying the annual dependency of Rs.27,000/with the multiplier of 15, the compensation works out to Rs.4,05,000/-. By awarding further sum of Rs.5,000/- towards funeral expenses; Rs.5,000/- for loss of estate; and Rs.5,000/- for loss of consortium to the widow, the claimants become entitled to receive a total sum of Rs.4,20,000/- as compensation for the death of deceased Ashok Kumar Singh in the motor accident.

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The claimants are further awarded a sum of Rs.3,500/towards quantified amount of interest on the enhanced amourit of compensation of Rs.28,500/-.

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For the foregoing reasons, the appeal filed by the appellants/ claimants for enhancement of the compensation is allowed in part. The compensation of Rs.3,91,500/- awarded by the Tribunal is enhanced to Rs.4,20,000/- with further quantified

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M.A.C.No.1167 of 2008

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amount of interest of Rs.3,500/- on the enhanced amount of compensation of Rs.28,500/-.

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Respondent No.3 the New India Insurance Company Limited is granted three months' time for depositing the total sum of Rs.32,000/- (rupees thirty-two thousand only) (Rs.28,500/towards enhanced amount of compensation + Rs.3,500/- towards quantified amount of interest on the enhanced amount of compensation of Rs.28,500/-) before the concerning Claims Tribunal.

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No order as to costs.

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Sd/Chief Justice

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Sd,'R.N. Chandrakar Judge

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subbu

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Nandu Devi and Others v. Dinesh Patkar and Others

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

Nandu Devi and Others v. Dinesh Patkar and Others

Case brief

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What did the court decide?

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