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Judgment
Heard.
In the present appeal, the claimant approached before this Court seeking enhancement of compensation amount awarded by the learned Tribunal in Claim Petition No.1340 of 2013 decided on 01.02.2018.
The undisputed facts in the present matter is that the claimant is the elder brother of deceased Yograj s/o Kasinath Salame. According to him, on 29.10.2013, the deceased while coming from Nagbhid to his village Chandi on his motorcycle with his friend, the offending ST bus which was coming in a high speed lost control over the bus and dashed the motorcycle of the deceased. In the said accident, the younger brother of the appellant, namely Yograj, has succumbed to the injuries.
It is the case of the appellant that deceased Yograj was residing with him and he was contributing to his family. Accordingly, the appellant filed the claim petition and thereby restricted his claim to Rs.1 lakh.
The respondent Corporation appeared before the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Nagpur and raised a ground of tenability of the claim petition on behalf of the brother of the deceased. According to the respondent Corporation, the brother of the deceased cannot file the proceedings and claimed the compensation. So also, the occurrence of the accident as alleged by the appellant was denied in toto by the respondent Corporation.
In this background, the learned Tribunal has decided the claim petition and by relying upon the judgment of Branch Manager vs Kaliyamoorthy reported in MANU/TN/0471/2016, held that the brother of the deceased can file the claim petition as he also comes into the category of legal representative.
The learned Tribunal thereafter, by relying upon the judgment of Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of National Insurance Company Limited vs. Pranay Sethi, (2017) 16 SCC 680, has reached to the conclusion that appellant is entitled for compensation of Rs.30,000/- only under the heads of loss of estate, compensation towards funeral expenses. No compensation has been awarded towards loss of consortium was paid to appellant. By final judgment, in death claim, learned Tribunal has awarded only Rs.30,000/- towards compensation to the appellant inclusive of the amount of no fault liability.
The appellant who approached before this Court has raised a specific ground that as per the provisions of law, in a death claim, no fault liability is minimum of Rs.50,000/- and as per the law laid down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Pranay Sethi (supra), the amount under different heads is required to be awarded and therefore, considering the settled principles of law, the impugned judgment delivered by the learned Tribunal is prima facie incorrect.
The Counsel appearing for the respondent Corporation has supported the order passed by the Tribunal. According to him, the learned Tribunal has rightly awarded the compensation by considering the judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in the case of Pranay Sethi (supra).
It would be relevant to note that as per the provisions of Motor Vehicles Act, in a case of a death claim, the claimant is entitled for amount of Rs.50,000/- and therefore, the appellant is entitled for the same amount in the present appeal.
The case which is relied upon by the learned Tribunal, i.e. Pranay Sethi (supra), the Hon’ble Supreme Court has specifically held that the claimant is entitled for the compensation of loss of estate, loss of consortium, and funeral expenses to the extent of Rs.15,000/- per head, it comes Rs.45,000/- minimum to be paid to the claimant. In the present matter, the learned Tribunal has not considered the compensation towards the loss of consortium as the deceased was the younger brother of the present appellant. Therefore, in my opinion, in addition to the no fault liability, appellant is entitled for additional Rs.50,000/- in the present matter.
In view of above, the impugned judgment and order passed by the Tribunal needs to be modified, hence the following order is passed:
ORDER
The appeal is partly allowed.
ii) The judgment and order passed by learned Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Nagpur is modified to the extent that the appellant is held entitled for a total compensation of Rs.1 lakh inclusive of no fault liability at the rate of 7.50% per annum from the date of institution of petition till its realization.
iii) Needless to mention that the amount which is already deposited or paid to the appellant shall be deducted from this amount.
iv) The respondent Corporation shall deposit the amount within a period of three months.
The First Appeal stands disposed of accordingly. No order as to the costs.