Remanded

Kumari Shreya Bose and Ors. v. Dr.S.K.Lal and Ors.

Chhattisgarh HC4 Dec 2014MA/212/2005

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

This court disposed of an appeal against an award under the Motor Vehicles Act. The court remanded the case to the Tribunal to re-assess compensation, specifically directing it to consider the deceased's income from subsequent years based on audit reports, while leaving the finding of contributory negligence intact.

What did the court decide?

Remanded to the Tribunal to re-assess compensation by considering income tax returns and audit reports for subsequent years beyond 2001-02; to dispose within 4 months.

Kumari Shreya Bose and Ors. Vs Dr.S.K.Lal and Ors. — Insurance | Chhattisgarh HC (2014)

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^ISIBH QwsW

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IN THE HIGH CQURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR

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M.A. No.:Z\a^2005

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IN THE MATTER OF

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Ku. Shreya Bose, aged 10 years
D/0 Late SriDr. Gaur Bose,
Through Smt. Ida Bose, (Mother & Guardian)
y-
2. Smt Ida Bose, aged 41 years,
^ W/o Late Sri Dr.Gaur Bose, ^^
s-.^-v" 'iQ'^ :^.-^-::^
••^<
y. Smt Rama Bose, aged 74 yeare w^ff
W/o LateSri S.K.Bose
All the three R/0 Green Park, ^lsfa"°
Raipur Road,
Bilaspur (C.G.) Appellants/
Claimants:-
Versus
t. Dr. S.K. Lal,
S/o.Shri S.B.Lal
R/o Tatapara,
Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh) — Owner/NA-1,
(Vehicle no. CG-10/ZD-1046)
2. United India Insurance Co. Ltd.
Through Branch Manager,
Mendekar Complex,
Link Road,
Rajendra Nagar Chwok,
Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh) — Insurer/ NA-2
(Vehicle no.CG-IO/ZD-1046)
^ 3. AnandKumar ^aiswal, Aged 32 Years,
S/o Radheshyam Jaiswal,
R/o Newlife Videos,
Near Chandrika Hotel,
Masanganj,
Owner/ NA-3
Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh) —
(Truck no. C.G.10/ Z-B-1633)
4. Gorelal,Aged 28 Years,
S/o Vanlo,
R/o HouseNo-2/18,
Rajkishore Nagar,
Driver/ NA-4
Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh) —
(Truck no. C.G.10/ZB-1633)
5. National Insurance Co. Ltd.
Throiigh Branch Manager,
Taha Complex,
Vyapar Vihar Road,
Insureri NA-5
Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh) —
(Tmck no.CG-IO/ZB-1633)
Contd.2

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\y^ APPEAL UNDERSECTION 173 OF THE MOTOR VEHICLE ACT 1988 ARISING OUT OF THE ORDER DATED 16ri1.2004 PASSED BY SMT MATHURI '^DDITIONAL KATULKAR, MEMBER, MOTOR ACCIDENT CLAIMS. TRIBUNAL, BILASPUR IN CLAIMCASE N0 07/2004

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HlGhLCOURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR

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SinaleBench: Hon'ble Shri Justice P.Sam Koshy

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IVI.A No.212 of 200S

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Appellant

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Ku. Shreya Bose and others

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VERSUS

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Respondents

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Dr. S.K. Lalandothers

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Present: Shri Mukesh Sharma, counsel fpr the appellants. Shri HB Agrawal, Sr. Advocate along with Smt Jaiswal, counsel.l6irr^pg»Hde!gtN®^.3._ • ,Shtl@j(e% i|aaifls| |s^ratSli,ll%S^vpcate along with Shri ,at TSnanilaCTt'nar Gupta, couhsertt(SI(%|Jondsnt No.5, , °&, 'ft. Mttne for the remaining respondents? C;,. 1'i

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Oral Order (O4.fi2,20i14)

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The instant appeal°shas/;beew!filed by the appellants/claimants under Section 173 of the^lVlolQr ^ljieles Act (henceforth 'the Act') for enhancement of the award;8atedi 18.11.2004 passed by the Additional Motor Accidents Tribunal,:Bi|aspur;(liienceforth 'the Tribunal') in Claims Case No. 07/2004 whereby;tHeappell]antsare the wife, children and mother of the deceased late IDr^CgfflBeiSe who met with an accident on 15.9.2002 when the car in'which f-ie'was travelling bearing registration No. CG ZD 1046 came in collision with the truck bearing registration No.CG 10 2B 1633 coming from the opposite direction as a result of which, the three occupants in the said car succumbed to the injury sustained by them.

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The appellants herein, who were the claimants before the Tribunal had moved an application under Section 166 of the Act before the Tribunal claiming for an amount of Rs.3,61,000,00 towards compensation ofdeath offather of appellant No.1, husband of appellant No.2 and the son of appellant No.3.

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The Tribunal, after conclusion of the pleadings and taking the evidence on record, vide the impugned order held that the appellants/claimants are entitled for an amount of Rs.17,32,9237- along with 6% interest from the date of award till realization.

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'2^'

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It is this award which is put to challenge by the appellants stating that the amount of compensation which has been granted by the Tribunal is on the lower side and that the Tribunal has not considered the income earned by the deceased for the year 2001-02 and 2002-03 in spite of the fact that the income which was earned by the deceased for the said period was already audited by a qualified Chartered Accountant who has been examined before the Tribunal and has brought the same to the notice ofthe Tribunal.

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According to the appellants, the audit report for the last 3 years having been produced,jft/higti jssiinarked^as Ex. P-8 to 11, the Tribunal has considered QBhi|SE^?fc8g*BBi|l|®a8tWem^i^eag^d in the financial year of 20CIO-@E|,6fethe assessment year2001-2002"«(/l'jareigStietotalincome of 1,98,l||;s has been shown by the appellant as taxable fhcgfj'iepwhereas in ith^ssubsequent audit report,;tb&inetjncgme and the grossemQ@rUe of the deceased has been showreaUa'iSUbs&intially higher side and fh^for the year 2001-02 assessed inf2p02-@3,;t%taxable income of the deceased is 3.18 lacs and in the subseqi.ient;y^r of 2002-03 assessed in the year 2003-04, it is 2.47 lacs whiGh?is^tHe Bet income earned by the deceased from 1.4.02 to 15.9.02 i^gon tli& claite;of accident. The income of the deceased was on the progreSStee sidieifrom year to year and there was substantial increase in thegr6s^aS:Well as net income ofthe deceased in the subsequent financial years. However, the Tribunal, only for the reason that the saral papers (income tax return) have not been produced before it, ignored the documentAnnexures P-9to P-11 forthe purpose of calculating the compensation in spite of the audit report being placed along with the statement of the Chartered Accountant before the Tribunal.

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Counsel for the appellants submits that if the figures as are shown in the audit report as also the saral papers for the subsequent financial years i.e. 2001-02 and 2002-03 are taken into consideration, the corrlpensation which the appellants have got, would have been increased substantially and therefore, he prays that the award of the Tribunal may be set aside, modified and enhanced suitably taking into consideration the income ofthe deceased forthe subsequent years.

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However, Shri Agrawal opposed the prayer of the appellant on the ground that the sara/ papers i.e. the income tax return papers itself have

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not been produced before the Tribunal for consideration of the said documents for the purpose of calculating the compensation and he further makes a request that if these papers are to be taken into consideration, then the matter may be remitted back so that the Insurance Company would also get an opportunity to explain the Tribunal as well as have a chance of opposing the claim of the appellant for enhancement of the compensation. He furiiher submits that since the saral papers have not been produced before the Tribunal, during the course of evidence, there was no occasion for the Tribunal to look into the income of the deceased and the assessment of the income of the deceased for the subsequent years and therefore, the Tribunal could not have been faulted at in not taking the income of the subsequent years into consideration for the purpose of calculating the compensation. He further sybmits that it is a case where the amount awarded by the Tribunal has already been deposited and disbursed to the appellants/claimants.

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Considering the rival contentions put forth by either counsel for the parties and also taking note of the fact that the appellants have produced along with the instant appeal, the sara/ papers for the year 2001-02, 2002-03 and 2003-004 which perhaps for some reason, could not be produced before the Tribunal and therefore, the Tribunal did not have an occasion to peruse the record on thebasis of Form-16 pertaining to the deceased.

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Further, in the opinion of this Court, the Tribunal, has even though Form-16 was not produced before it, the Tribunal could have taken the audit report for the purpose of calculation as the same has the corrtplete details of the income and expenditure of the deceased for the respective financial years and if the record is perused, it would show that the Tribuna] has accepted the audit report Ex.P-8 for the purpose of calculating the compensation and if Ex.P-8 could have been taken into consifleration for calculating the compensation, there was no reason why Ex.P-9 & Ex.P-11 which is the audit report for the subsequent years could not have been relied upon by the Tribunal for the purpose of compensation in the same method in which he had calculated the compensation.

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In view of above, this Court is of the view that it would be appropriate if the matter is remanded back to the Tribunal for re-

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assessing the compensation payable to the appellants/claimants taking into consideration the income tax return and the audit report for the subsequent years i.e. beyond 2001-02 for the purpose of calculating the compensation.

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Counsel for the appellants, at this juncture, submits that the original sara/ papers i.e Form 16 of the year 2001 to 2004 is also filed along with the present appeal and that he may be permitted to withdraw the original papers subject to providing the photocopy ofthe same. •

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Request made by counsel for the appellants is accepted and it is ordered that subject to the counsel depositing the photocopy of the sara/ papers, the originalfltiai.SiNStBiUINSo Brt aT<ti,it js also directed that the registry sf!tla|s ^plirt'Shaill forthwith send"Ba61|5t|)^|6riginal record to the concet'iiecfc'Tribuna] without fail and shall also ensu'feajiBat the same reaGKes the Tribunal early before^tiedate next fixed before JK,!B; ,s

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It is made clear that ffie^remitUi-lgjof the case is only to the extent of calculating the compensation, keeping in view the income tax papers. As faras the other finding asiregar£ls the contributory negligence is concerned, the finding of the Uribunat shall remain in tact and the matter is accordingly remitted bacfcto the Tribunal with a further direction that the Tribunal shall try to dispdsfeditUe matt^rlwithin a period of 4 months from the date of receipt of the reeordy ;,-^

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Needless to mention that the parties to the dispute shall cooperate in the expeditious disposal of the case. With the consent of the parties, both the parties i.e. the appellants/claimants as well as the Insurance Company are directed to appear before the Tribuhal on 12.1.2015. ,

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With the above direction, the appeal stands disposed of.

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'—.

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Sd/P.Sam Koshy Judge

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Priya-

Kumari Shreya Bose and Ors. v. Dr.S.K.Lal and Ors.

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

Kumari Shreya Bose and Ors. v. Dr.S.K.Lal and Ors.

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

What the court decided

A compact analysis

Issues for consideration

Statutes considered

Parties & counsel

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