IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA AT BENGALURU DATED THIS THE 22ND DAY OF FEBRUARY 2019 PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE P.S.DINESH KUMAR AND THE HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE H. T. NARENDRA PRASAD M.F.A.No.12 OF 2017(MV) BETWEEN:
1. Smt. T. Arunamma W/o T. Gangulappa Aged 41 years 2. T.Gangulappa S/o Venkataramudu Aged 48 years 3. T.Amaresh S/o T. Gangulappa Aged 22 years All are R/at #8/24 Bodigunlapalli Village, Kondakamarla Obuladevaracheruuvu Ananthapur District A.P.-515 531. … Appellants (By Sri.Sridhar D.S. Advocate) AND:
1. B.Manjunath S/o C.N. Bayanna, Major R/of Chilakalanerpu Village and Post Chinthamani Taluk Chikkaballapur Dist-563125.
2. M/s United India Insurance Co. Ltd., Regional Office, T.P. Hub, 5th Floor Krishi Bhavan Bldg, Nrupathunga Road Bengaluru-560001.
Represented by its Manager. ... Respondents (By Sri.K.P.Thrimurthy, Advocate for Sri.R.Rajagopalan, Advocate for R2: R1 is served.) This MFA is filed under Section 173(1) of MV Act against the judgment and award dated 09.11.2016 passed in MVC.No.1376/2016 on the file of the XIII Additional Small Cause Judge, Member, MACT, Bengaluru partly allowing the claim petition for compensation and seeking enhancement of compensation.
This MFA coming on for hearing this day, P.S. DINESH KUMAR J., delivered the following:
J U D G M E N T Claimants have preferred this appeal seeking enhancement of compensation awarded in MVC No.1376/2016 decided on 09.11.2016 by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Bengaluru.
2. For the sake of convenience, parties shall be referred to as per the status before the Tribunal.
3. Claimants No. 1 and 2 are parents of one T.Ramanappa who succumbed to the injuries sustained by him in a motor vehicle accident which occurred on 28.08.2015 in Hoskote, Bengaluru while he was riding his motor cycle hit by a lorry.
4. The Tribunal on consideration of material on record has awarded a total compensation of Rs.9,21,400/-.
5. Sri D.S.Sridhar, learned advocate for the claimants contended that Tribunal has not awarded any compensation towards loss of consortium payable to them in terms of the decision of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in MAGMA GENERAL INSURANCE CO. LTD. Vs. NANU RAM ALIAS CHUHRU RAM AND OTHERS1.
6. He further contended that Tribunal erred in not adding 40% to the established income which was brought before the Tribunal while computing compensation. With regard to addition of 40%, he places reliance on the judgment of Hon’ble Supreme 1 Civil Appeal No.9581/2018 decided on 18.09.2018 Court in NATIONAL INSURANCE CO. LTD. Vs. PRANAY SETHI AND OTHERS2.
7. Sri K.P.Thrimurthy, learned advocate for the insurer argued in support of the award.
8. We have carefully considered rival contentions and perused the records.
9. Deceased as on the date of accident was aged 27 years.
Tribunal has accepted the pleadings that he was employed as a Machine Operator and earning a sum of Rs.8,200/- p.m.
10. The claim for enhancement is on two heads, viz., (i) consortium and (ii) addition of 40% while calculating loss of dependency.
11. In so far as addition of 40% to the established income is concerned, Sri Sridhar is right in his submission that the Tribunal has not added 40% to the established income. Tribunal has accepted the earning capacity of the deceased as Rs.8,200/-
p.m. Therefore, claimants shall be entitled for an addition in income at 40% in terms of decision in PRANAY SETHI.
2 AIR 2017 SC 5157 12. In the circumstances, the compensation under the head ‘loss of dependency’ is recomputed as follows:
13. So far as the loss of consortium is concerned, in MAGMA GENRAL INSURANCE CO. LTD. the Hon’ble Supreme Court has awarded Rs.40,000/-. Therefore, we deem it appropriate to award a sum of Rs.40,000/- each, i.e., Rs.80,000/- to the parents of the deceased. From the said amount of Rs.80,000/-, Rs.10,000/- each awarded towards loss of love and affection has to be deducted. The compensation towards loss of estate is awarded at Rs.15,000/-. Accordingly compensation is re-computed as follows:
Compensation under different Heads As awarded by this Court (Rs.) Loss of dependency 11,70,960/- Loss of estate 15,000/-
Loss of love and affection 10,000/-
Loss of consortium 80,000/-
Transportation of dead body and funeral expenses 25,000/-
Total 13,00,960/-
Less: Compensation awarded by the Tribunal 9,21,400/-
Total enhancement comes to Rs.3,79,560/-.
14. In the result, we pass the following order:
(i) This appeal is allowed in part by enhancing the compensation to Rs.13,00,960/- with interest at 6% p.a.
(ii) The insurer shall deposit the enhanced compensation amount of Rs.3,79,560/- with interest at 6% p.a. within four weeks from today and after deposit, it shall be released to the claimants.
(iii) Compensation shall be disbursed as ordered by the Tribunal.
Sd/- JUDGE Cm/-
Sd/- JUDGE