Rajasthan High Court - Jaipur
Patasi Devi And Others vs Gani Khan And Others on 28 November, 2019
Author: Prakash Gupta
Bench: Prakash Gupta
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN
BENCH AT JAIPUR
S.B. Civil Miscellaneous Appeal No. 489/2014
1. Patasi Devi wife of Iqbal, aged 25 years
2. Salma daughter of Iqbal, aged 06 years
3 Shakeel son of Iqbal, aged 04 years
4. Shahzad son of Iqbal, aged 03 years
5. Abdul Razzak son of Suwa Khan, aged 49 years
6. Ameena Bano wife of Abdul Razzak, aged 48 years
7. Nasruddin son of Abdul Razzak, aged 22 years
8. Suwa Khan son of Hanjaji, aged 76 years
Appellant No.2 to 4 are minor through their mother and natural
guardian Patasi Devi wife of Iqbal
All by caste Muslim, resident of village Somalpur, Police Station
Ramgang, District Ajmer
----Claimants/Appellants
Versus
1. Gani Khan son of Rama Khan, resident of village Bitthur, Police
Station Mangliyawas, via Nasirabad, District Ajmer (Driver)
2. Beera Khan son of Nazaa Khan @ Nazir Khan, resident of 43,
Bitthur, Post Bitthur, Police Station Mangaliyawas, District Ajmer
(Owner)
3. United India Insurance Company Limited, having its regional
office at Vishal Chambers, Tonk Road, Jaipur through its Regional
Manager
----Non-claimant/Respondents
For Appellant(s) : Mr. Vinay Mathur with Mr. Ajay Verma
For Respondent(s) : Mrs Shruti Dixit
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE PRAKASH GUPTA
Judgment
28/11/2019
This appeal for enhancement of compensation is
directed against the judgment and award dated 09.09.2013
passed by Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Ajmer (for short 'the
Tribunal'), whereby the Tribunal awarded a sum of Rs.6,76,790/-
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(2 of 3) [CMA-489/2014]
as compensation along with interest @ 6% per annum from the
date of filing of the claim petition.
Learned counsel for the appellants has submitted that
the Tribunal committed an error in awarding lesser compensation.
The Tribunal has taken the income of the deceased on the lower
side. The Tribunal has erred in awarding lesser amount towards
future prospects of the deceased. It is also submitted that amount
awarded towards conventional heads is also on the lower side.
On the other hand, learned counsel for the respondent
No.2 has opposed the appeal.
I have considered the rival submissions made by the learned counsel for the parties and have perused the material available on record.
The claim-petition was filed by the appellants seeking compensation on account of death of Iqbal in the motor vehicle accident which occurred on 24.04.2012. In absence of any cogent evidence about the income of the deceased, the Tribunal has taken the income of the deceased as Rs.3510/- per month on the basis of prevalent rate of minimum wages fixed by the State. The rate of minimum wages was revised from Rs.3510/- to Rs.3822/- per month on 01.05.2012 and accident in the present matter had occurred on 24.04.2012. Considering this fact, income of the deceased is to be taken at Rs.3822/- per month. There is no dispute that the age of the deceased was 30 years at the time of the accident. Therefore, in view of the judgment of Hon'ble Apex Court passed in National Insurance Company Limited Vs. Pranay Sethi & Ors., reported in AIR 2017 SC 5157, an (Downloaded on 07/06/2021 at 04:58:40 AM) (3 of 3) [CMA-489/2014] addition of 40% is to be added towards future prospect of the deceased, which comes to Rs.1529/-. Thus, the monthly income of the deceased comes to Rs.5351/-(3822+1529). Keeping in view the number of the dependents, i.e. six, one fourth of the said income is to be deducted towards personal expenses of the deceased. Keeping in view, the age of the deceased, i.e. 30 years, multiplier of 17 would be applied. In this way, the amount of compensation comes to Rs.8,18,703/- (5351x3/4x12x17). The claimants would be further entitled to receive Rs.70,000/- towards conventional heads. Thus, the total amount of compensation receivable by the claimants comes to Rs.8,88,703/- (818703+70000).
Accordingly, this appeal is partly allowed. Impugned award dated 09.09.2013 is modified to the extent that the compensation amount receivable by the claimants is Rs.8,88,703/- instead of Rs.6,76,790/- as awarded by the Tribunal. Remaining terms and conditions of the award shall be the same. The Insurance Company shall deposit the enhanced amount along with the interest @ 6% per annum from the date of filing of the claim petition till date of payment with the Tribunal within a period of two months from today. It is ordered that the share of the enhanced amount of the compensation shall be invested in fixed deposit with a nationalised bank initially for a period of 2 years and the interest accrued thereon shall be paid to the claimants on monthly basis.
(PRAKASH GUPTA),J Mohit 17 (Downloaded on 07/06/2021 at 04:58:40 AM) Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)