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Judgment
G.P. Mittal, J.—The Appeal is for enhancement of compensation of Rs.15,26,000/- awarded by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (the
Claims Tribunal) for the death of Ejaz Asghar who died in a motor vehicle accident which occurred on 05.10.2005. In the absence of any Appeal
by the driver, owner or the Insurance Company, the finding on negligence has attained finality.
During inquiry before the Claims Tribunal, it was claimed that the deceased was MBA and a very highly qualified person and was working as a
consultant with various companies. His income was claimed to be between Rs.9,000/- to 15,000/- per month. The Appellants proved two
certificates to show that he was working as a consultant with M/s Shipping Services Pvt. Ltd. since May, 2000 and was getting consultancy fee of
Rs.6,000/- per month. Similarly, a certificate dated 31.01.2006 was proved to show that he was getting a consultancy fee of Rs.3,000/- per
month from Paradise Cargo Services since the year 2003. The Claims Tribunal accepted this income of the deceased, deducted 1/5th towards
personal and living expenses considering the number of dependents to be eight, and applied a multiplier of 15 according to the age of the deceased
to compute the loss of dependency as Rs.12,96,000/-. A compensation of Rs.2,30,000/- was awarded towards non-pecuniary heads to compute
an overall compensation of Rs.15,26,000/-.
It is urged by the learned counsel for the Appellant that as the deceased was an MBA from Indian Institute of Business Management, Patna, the
Appellant was entitled to an addition of 50% towards future prospects.
On the other hand, the learned counsel for the Respondent Union of India urges that a compensation of Rs.2,00,000/- awarded towards loss of
love and affection was quite high and the Respondent can resist the Appeal without filing any Cross-Objection under Order XLI Rule 22 CPC. A
reference may also be made to a judgment of the Supreme Court in Shri Ravinder Kumar Sharma Vs. The State of Assam and Others, .
The deceased was a self-employed person. His income at the rate of Rs.9,000/- per month was duly proved. There was no evidence with
regard to his future prospects. At the same time, he was a highly qualified person and was, therefore, entitled to an addition of 30% on account of
inflation/future prospects on the basis of the judgment of the Supreme Court in Santosh Devi Vs. National Insurance Company Ltd. and Others, .
The loss of dependency thus comes to Rs.16,84,800/- ( Rs.9,000/- x 12 + 30% x 4/5 x 15).
Considering the number of dependents to be eight, the Claims Tribunal awarded a compensation of Rs.2,00,000/- towards loss of love and
affection. Loss of love and affection can never be measured in terms of money. Thus, uniformity has to be adopted by the Courts while granting
non-pecuniary damages. The Supreme Court in Sunil Sharma and Others Vs. Bachitar Singh and Others, and in Baby Radhika Gupta and Others
Vs. Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd. and Others, granted Rs.25,000/- only (in total to all the claimants) under the head of loss of love and affection.
Thus, I would reduce the compensation under this head to Rs.25,000/- only.
The overall compensation thus comes to Rs.17,39,800/-.
The enhanced compensation of Rs.2,13,800/- shall carry interest @ 9% per annum as awarded by the Claims Tribunal. 80% of the enhanced
compensation shall be payable to the First Appellant and 20% to the Second Appellant. The compensation payable to the First and Second
Appellant shall be held in fixed deposit in a nationalized bank for a period of five years and two years respectively. The Appellants shall be entitled
to quarterly interest thereon.
The enhanced compensation of Rs.2,13,800/- along with interest shall be deposited by the Respondent No. 1 with the Claims Tribunal within
six weeks.
The Appeal is allowed in above terms. Pending Applications stand disposed of.