S.B. CIVIL MISC. APPEAL NO.1160/2002 SMT. SUSHILA GURJAR & Ors. v. GULSHAN KUMAR DATE OF ORDER :- MAY 12 & Ors.

- MAY 12, 2008 HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE GUMAN SINGH Shri Sanjay Joshi, for the appellants. Shri S.R. Jatav, for respondents.

The case has come up for admission. Counsel of both the parties agree to dispose of the case at admission stage.

Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the entire record of the miscellaneous appeal.

This civil misc. appeal under Section 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, has been filed by the dependents of deceased Hanuman Gurjar, for enhancement of claim against the award dated May 24, 2001, of the learned Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Dausa (for short 'the Tribunal') in Claim Petition No.261/1997, whereby a sum of Rs.6,84,000/- has been awarded by way of compensation to the dependents of deceased Hanuman Gurjar.

Learned counsel for the claimants appellants submitted that deceased Hanuman Gurjar was a young Advocate of 2 34 years of age and he was practicing at Dausa. Learned counsel for the appellants submitted that the Advocate had a bright career and he had already put on 10 years practice and was conducting important sessions and civil cases in the courts. He submitted that the income of the deceased was stated to be Rs.20,000/- per month and as such the learned Tribunal has erred in assessing the income of the deceased to be Rs.48,000/- per year. He submitted that the compensation awarded is inadequate and hence, it deserves to be enhanced.

Per contra, learned counsel for the respondents supported the award of the learned Tribunal on the ground that the finding of the learned Tribunal is correct and based on evidence and the record and as such this is not a case for interference by this Court. He further submitted that the deceased was an Advocate but no proof of his income such as income tax return etc. has been filed. Therefore, there has been no basis to assess the income of the deceased and the learned tribunal has made proper 3 assessment of the income in the facts and circumstances and evidence of the case.

In view of the submissions advanced and on going through the award as well as the record of the case, it is revealed that the dependency of the deceased as well as the fact that the deceased was a practicing lawyer and had a bright career, the income of the deceased seems to have been assessed on lower side. Therefore, the mount of dependency deserves to be enhanced to Rs.56,700/- instead of dependency found by the learned Tribunal at Rs.48,000/-. Thus, after deducting 1/3rd as against the expenses of the deceased and on application of multiplier of 17, the total amount of award is enhanced from Rs.6,84,000/- to Rs.7,84,000/-.

Accordingly, while maintaining the terms of award upto the date of filing appeal, the amount of the award is enhanced Rs.6,84,000/- Rs.7,84,200/- with interest @ 6% p.a. from the date of appeal with the condition that failure to make payment under the award within a period of three months from this 4 order shall entail interest @ 9% p.a. from the date of appeal i.e. 12.10.2001.