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Judgment
A.S. Supehia, J
In the present appeal, the appellants have assailed the judgement and award dated 12.07.2016 passed in Motor Accident Claim Petition No.1086 of 2002 by the Motor Accident Claim Tribunal(Auxi), Surat.
FACTS
It is the case of the appellant that on 20.08.2002, at about 2:45 p.m., Babubhai Mer-deceased was standing at Central Bus Stand, Surat. At that time, respondent No.1 dashed the deceased, while driving ST Bus bearing registration No.RJ-24-P-1418. Therefore, the appellants have prayed for compensation for unnatural death and untimely death against the respondents by way of filing a petition before the Motor Accident Claim Tribunal, Surat claiming compensation of Rs.6,00,000/-.
SUBMISSIONS
At the outset, learned advocate Mr.Modi appearing for the appellants has submitted that so far as income of the deceased is concerned, which is assessed by the Tribunal at Rs.2,200/-is required to be enhanced to Rs.3,000/- since the deceased was maintaining the family having 05 members, which include 04 minors and one widow mother. He has submitted that the deceased was not having father and hence, the amount of Rs.2,200/- should be enhanced to Rs.3,000/-. He has submitted that so far as the prospective income is concerned, the Tribunal has fallen in error by calculating 30% and since the deceased was of 30 years of age, it should be 40%. He has further submitted that the amount under the head of loss of consortium and loss of love and affection, which is awarded by the Tribunal of Rs.1,00,000/- is required to be enhanced to Rs.2,40,000/- by awarding Rs.40,000/- to each of the member of the family. It is submitted that the compensation towards loss of estate is not awarded by the Tribunal and hence, the amount of Rs.50,000/- shall be awarded.
Learned advocate Mr.Darji appearing for the opponent No.2 has submitted that the impugned judgement and award passed by the Tribunal does not require any interference and the same is appropriately passed, after examining oral as well as documentary evidence.
Heard the learned advocates for the respective parties and also perused the documents as pointed out by them.
CONCLUSION
It is not in dispute that due to the fateful accident, the deceased passed away on 20.08.2002 and at that time, the deceased was of 30 years of age. The evidence on record reveals that the deceased was an agriculturist and was also running a stall. The Tribunal has assessed the income of the deceased as Rs.2,200/- since there was no evidence of his income. It is also not in dispute that at the time of accident, the deceased was having 04 minor children and a mother and he was maintaining the family and hence, the amount of income of Rs.2,200/- is required to be enhanced to Rs.3,000/- looking to the expenditure and expenses on the family members. Looking to the age of the deceased, which was of 30 years, prospective income is also required to be considered and accordingly, the same is enhanced from 30% to 40%. Towards the head of loss of consortium and love and affection, the amount awarded by the Tribunal as Rs.1,00,000/- is also meager and by assigning Rs.40,000/- for each of the family members, the same would come to Rs.2,40,000/- instead of Rs.1,00,000/-. It is also noticed that the compensation towards loss of estate is also not awarded and hence, the same is fixed and awarded at Rs.15,000/-.
Accordingly, this Court has enhanced the compensation amount to the below mentioned extent under the different heads:
Particulars
Amount awarded after enhancement (In Rs.)
Loss of Income (3800*12*18)
6,42,600.00
Loss of Consortium and loss of love and affection
2,40,000.00
Loss of Estate
15,000.00
Total
8,97,600.00
Amount awarded by the Tribunal
5,47,580.00
Difference amount
3,50,020.00
Interest @ 6% on the enhanced amount-difference amount shall be paid from the date of claim application. Differential amount shall be deposited before the Tribunal within a period of 30 days from the date of receipt of this order and on such deposit, enhanced amount shall be disbursed to the claimants.
The present appeal is partly allowed.
Record and proceedings to be sent back.