This appeal is at the instance of the claimants, the heirs and legal representatives of the victim who died in the accident, in a proceedings under section 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act and is directed against an award dated 2nd January 2002 passed by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal [Aux], Jamnagar, in MACP No. 392 of 1992 whereby the Tribunal awarded a sum of Rs.3,36,627/- with interest at the rate of 9% per annum from the date of filing the claim- application till the actual realisation. The owners of the offending vehicle, truck No. GTX 5859, and their insurer were held to be jointly and severally liable to pay the said amount. The insurer of the TVS moped on which the victim was travelling as a pillion rider and its driver were, however, exonerated from the liability to pay the compensation. It appears from the record that on 18th June 1992, while the victim was travelling as a pillion rider on the TVS Moped, met with an accident with the truck coming from behind, resulting in his death. The Tribunal below, on consideration of the evidence on record, came to the conclusion that the driver of the offending truck was solely responsible in causing the accident and that there was no contributory negligence on the part of the driver of the Moped.
It appears that the victim was aged 50 years at the time of the accident and was working as a Work Assistant with the Bedi Port, Jamnagar. There is no dispute that in the ordinary course of employment, he would have retired in the month of August 2000. It, however, appears that at the time of the accident, he used to get total salary of Rs.2640/-.
The learned Tribunal below calculated the compensation by taking into consideration the total amount of basic salary and Dearness Allowance that would have been payable to the deceased if he had retired in due course of time, and further added an amount for 2 years pension to the said amount. After arriving at such figure, the Tribunal below deducted 1/3rd towards the personal expenses of the deceased and awarded the following amounts:-
Rs.2,88,827-00 Loss of dependency [salary] Rs. 40,800-00 Loss of dependency [Pension] Rs. 1,000-00 Funeral expenses Rs. 5,000-00 Loss of expectation of life Rs. 1,000-00 Mental shock, pain and agony Rs.3,36,627-00 Total The Tribunal, thus, awarded a total amount of Rs.3,36,327/- with interest at the rate of 9% per annum from the date of filing the claim-application till the actual realisation.
The widow of the victim died during the pendency of the proceedings before the Tribunal and her name was accordingly deleted by the Tribunal. Three major sons, the heirs and legal representatives of the deceased pillion rider of the moped, have filed the appeal being dissatisfied with the award passed by the learned Tribunal, praying for enhancement of the compensation.
The learned advocate appearing on behalf of the appellant strenuously contended before this Court that while arriving at the figure of compensation, the learned Tribunal below did not take into consideration the amount of House Rent Allowance, Medical Allowance and Washing Allowance, and if those amounts were taken into consideration, the amount would have been more than the one awarded by the Tribunal. He, therefore, prays for enhancement of the amount to Rs.4,75,000/- which has been claimed on the basis of amendment of the claim-application.
The learned advocate appearing on behalf of the insurers of the moped and the offending truck have opposed the aforesaid contentions.
After hearing the learned counsel for the parties and after going through the materials on record, I find that at the relevant point of time when the accident occurred, the claimant used to get Rs.2640/- a month. The Tribunal, as stated above, has awarded a sum of Rs.3,36,627-00 with interest at the rate of 9% from the date of filing of the claim-petition till realisation - which is nearly 10 years. Thus, if the total amount of compensation awarded by the Tribunal with interest at the rate of 9% for 10 years is kept in a Fixed Deposit with any nationalized Bank, it would fetch more than double the amount the victim used to earn a month at the relevant point of time. In the circumstances, there is no scope of enhancement of the award. Since the Insurance Company of the offending vehicle has not preferred any appeal, there is also no scope of reducing the amount awarded.
I further find that while calculating the compensation, two years pension has also been taken into consideration by the Tribunal.
Such being the position, the appellant is not at all affected by non-inclusion of House Rent Allowance, Medical Allowance and Washing Allowance, even if we accept for the sake of argument that the said amounts should have been taken into consideration.
Thus, on an overall consideration of the materials on record, I am of the view that there is no scope of enhancing the amount awarded by the learned Tribunal below in this appeal. Consequently, the appeal is dismissed. In the facts and circumstances, however, there will be no order as to costs.
mathew (BHASKAR BHATTACHARYA, CJ)