Court No. - 33
Case :- FIRST APPEAL FROM ORDER No.2188 of 2019 Appellant :- Shakuntala And 7 Others Respondent :- United India Insurance Co. Ltd.. And 2 Others Counsel for Appellant :- Ram Singh,Amit Kumar Singh Counsel for Respondent :- Harsh Narayan Singh,Shreesh Srivastava
Hon'ble Dr. Kaushal Jayendra Thaker,J.
1. Heard Sri Ram Singh for the appellant and learned counsel for the Insurance Company.
2. By means of this appeal, the appellant challenges the judgment and award dated 20.10.2018 passed by Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Banda, (hereinafter referred to as 'Tribunal') in Motor Accident Claim Petition No. 13/70/2017 awarding a sum of Rs. 8,83,740/- with interest at the rate of 7 per cent.
3. I am unable to accept the submission of Sri Ram Singh that Rs. 6,000/- be considered as the income of the deceased and 30% would be the future loss of income.
4. However, looking to the fact that he was Lecturer and also doing agricultural work survived by 8 persons, his income can be considered to be Rs.4,500/- per month being self employed.
5. After hearing the learned counsels for the parties and perusing the judgment and order impugned, this Court feels that the income of the deceased should have been Rs.4,500/- per month namely Rs.54,000/- per year to which 25% of the income requires to be added for future loss of income which would come to Rs.54,000 + 13,500 = Rs. 67,500/- out of which 1/5th requires to be deducted as personal expenses of the deceased and, hence, the annual datum figure available to the family is Rs.54,000/-. As the 2 deceased was in the age bracket of 41 - 45 years, the applicable multiplier would be 14. In addition to that Rs.70,000/- plus 10% rise of each year which would be Rs.1,00,000/- is granted towards conventional heads. Hence, the claimants are entitled to a total sum of Rs. 54,000 x 14 + 1,00,000 = Rs. 8,56,000/-.
6. As far as issue of rate of interest is concerned, the interest should be 7.5% in view of the latest decision of the Apex Court in National Insurance Co. Ltd. Vs. Mannat Johal and Others, 2019 (2) T.A.C. 705 (S.C.) wherein the Apex Court has held as under :
"13. The aforesaid features equally apply to the contentions urged on behalf of the claimants as regards the rate of interest. The Tribunal had awarded interest at the rate of 12% p.a. but the same had been too high a rate in comparison to what is ordinarily envisaged in these matters. The High Court, after making a substantial enhancement in the award amount, modified the interest component at a reasonable rate of 7.5% p.a. and we find no reason to allow the interest in this matter at any rate higher than that allowed by High Court."
7. No other grounds are urged orally when the matter was heard.
7. In view of the above, the appeal is partly allowed. Judgment and decree passed by the Tribunal shall stand modified to the aforesaid extent. The amount be deposited with interest at the rate of 7.5% from the date of filing of the claim petition till the amount is deposited. The amount be deposited within a period of 12 weeks from today. The amount already deposited be deducted from the amount to be deposited.
8. This Court is thankful to both the counsels to see that this very old matter is disposed of.
Order Date :- 26.8.2019 Irshad