By way of filing this appeal under Section 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 the appellants - insurance company has challenged the judgment and order dated 11th October 1996 passed by the learned Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (Main) at Bhavnagar in MAC Petition No.282 of 1996 whereby the Tribunal has awarded Rs.3,72,200/- along with conditional interest of 15% per cent from the date of application till realisation. 2 The short facts of the present appeal as per the claimants are that on the date of the incident the deceased was repairing public carrier bearing No.GTG 2748. It is the case of the claimants that after carrying out the repair work, while the deceased was coming out from under the said public carrier, appellant No.1 herein all of a sudden started the said vehicle and put it into motion. In view of that, the front wheel of the vehicle had run over the body of the deceased because of which he sustained grievous injuries. He was removed to Sir T Hospital at Bhavnagar where, during the course of treatment he breathed his last. The claimants, being widow, children and parents of the deceased, filed the aforesaid claim petition claiming for compensation of Rs.4,00,000/- under various heads. The tribunal considering the oral as well as documentary evidence produced on record has awarded Rs.3,72,000 to the claimants under various heads along with interest at the rate of 15% from the date of application till realisation.
3. Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the record.
4. Mr Parikh, learned counsel for the appellants – original respondents has, inter-alia, submitted that the Tribunal has committed an error in assessing the future prospective income of the deceased at Rs.4,000 per month without there being any evidence that has been led by the claimants in that regard. He further submitted that the Tribunal ought to have taken prospective income of the deceased at Rs.1800 (actual income) plus 30% additional income, which would come to Rs.2590. Thereafter, after deducting 1/4th income the datum figure ought to have been assessed at Rs.1750/-. He has also contended that the rate of interest at 15% is also on higher side and it should not be more than 12%.
5. Mr Kinariwala, learned counsel for the original claimants has supported the judgment and award of the Tribunal and submitted that no interference is called for. He, however, pointed out that as per the decision of the Smt. Sarla Verma v. Delhi Transport Corporation, reported in (2009) 6 SCC 121 the Tribunal ought to have awarded Rs.5,000 as funeral expenses. He has also submitted that as per the decision of the Sarla Verma (supra) the Tribunal ought to have deducted 1/4th amount instead of 1/3rd amount.
6. At the time of death, deceased employee was earning Rs.1800 per month. As per the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Sarla Dixit v. Balwant Yadav, reported in (1996) 3 SCC 179, the average gross future monthly income could be arrived at by adding 30% of the actual gross income at the time of death, namely, Rs.1800 + 540. Thus the average gross monthly income spread over his entire future career, had it been available, would work out to Rs.2340/-. From that gross monthly income at least 1/4th will have to be deducted by way of his personal expenses and other liabilities, which would roughly work out to Rs.585/- per month and deducting the same by way of average personal expenses of the deceased from the average gross earning of Rs.2340/- per month, balance of Rs.1755/- would have been the average amount available to the family of the deceased, i.e., his dependents, namely, the claimants. It is this figure which would be the datum figure per month which, on annual basis, would work out to Rs.21,060/-. Therefore, said figure would be the proper multiplicand which would be available for capitalization for computing the future economic loss suffered by the claimants on account of untimely death of the bread winner. As the age of the deceased was 44 years at the time of his death the proper multiplier in the light of the decision of the Apex Court in the case of Sarla Verma (supra) would be 14. If Rs.21,060/- is multiplied by 14, it will work out to Rs.2,94,840/-. To this figure will have to be added the conventional figure of loss of expectation of life and consortium of Rs.20,000/- and Rs.5,000 towards funeral charges. That will lead to a total figure of Rs.3,19,840/-. This is the amount which the claimants would be entitled to get by way of compensation from the appellants.
7. In view of the aforesaid discussion, the judgment and order dated 11th October 1996 passed by the learned Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (Main) at Bhavnagar in MAC Petition No.282 of 1996 whereby the Tribunal has awarded Rs.3,72,200/- along with conditional interest of 15% per cent is modified to the extent that the claimants are entitled to Rs.3,19,840/- The excess amount is ordered to be refunded to the insurance company. Further, the rate of interest at 15% awarded by the Tribunal is on higher side. The same is excessive looking to the decisions of the Apex Court and the same shall not be awarded more than 12%. Hence, it is required to be reduced and accordingly the rate of interest awarded is reduced to 12% per annum from 15% in both the appeals. The excess amount of 3% of interest will be refunded back to the appellant-insurance company if the same is deposited by the appellant with the Tribunal.
Appeal is allowed to the aforesaid extent with no order as to costs.
(K.S.Jhaveri, J.) *mohd