Ramachandran Nair, J. The appeal is filed by the claimants before the Tribunal. This is a case where the deceased was riding a motorcycle which was hit by a jeep, the offending vehicle, and the deceased was thrown down to the road and he sustained grievous injuries. He was taken to the Raja Hospital on the date of the accident namely, on 15.06.2011. The deceased was aged 44 years and was a driver by profession holding a heavy vehicle driving license. The appellants claimed monthly income @ Rs.9,000/-.
2. The Tribunal below has awarded compensation by reckoning the monthly income at Rs.5,000/-, which is too low, is the first contention raised by the learned counsel for the appellant. The second contention is that for loss of estate, nothing has been granted.
3. The learned counsel for the Insurance Company submitted that the liability of the Company is only to remit 80% of the compensation awarded, since the deceased was not wearing protective headgear.
4. The compensation has been assessed by the Tribunal in the following manner:
5. With regard to the monthly income, evidence is before the Tribunal as Ext.A8 and the finding is also that, he was a heavy driving license holder. But Rs.5,000/- alone has been taken, which we find is not the correct method. The Apex Court in Minu Rout V. Satya Pradyumna Mohapatra [2013 ACJ 2544] in the case of a driver in para.13 has stated that the post of a driver is a skilled job and the deceased therein was entitled to get Rs.6,000/- per mensem that was a case wherein the accident occurred in the year 2004.
6. We therefore are of the view that at any rate Rs.8,000/- can be taken as the monthly income and by deducting 1/4th towards personal expenses, the multiplicand will be Rs.6,000/- and the compensation towards loss of dependency will be Rs.10,08,000/- (Rs.6000X12X14). We also find that even though for loss of estate the appellant has claimed Rs.15,000/-, nothing has been granted. Since he was an earning member, the said amount could have been granted and therefore we grant the same. Accordingly we modify the award in the following manner:
(Rupees Thirteen lakhs sixty one thousand and five hundred only)
7. The appellants are entitled to a total amount of Rs.13,61,500/- as compensation with 9% interest per annum from the date of petition. We hold that since the Tribunal has found that 80% of the award amount alone need be paid by the Insurance Company, the same direction will remain and we are not interfering with the same. The amount will be disbursed in the proportion as directed by the Tribunal in its award, except that in favour of appellants 3 And 4, it will be deposited till they attain majority.
The appeal is allowed accordingly. No costs.
Sd/-
T.R.RAMACHANDRAN NAIR Judge rtr/ Sd/-
P.V.ASHA Judge /true copy/ P.S to Judge