G.P.Mittal, J. - (1.) BY way of this appeal, the Appellants seek enhancement of compensation of Rs.13,32,672/ - awarded by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (the Claims Tribunal) to the Appellants (the Claimants) for the death of Raj Kumar, who died in a motor vehicular accident which occurred on 01.03.2010.
(2.) IN the absence of any appeal filed by the Insurance Company, the finding on negligence has attained finality. Evidence was led before the Claims Tribunal that the deceased was an income tax assessee. At the same time, the Claims Tribunal opined that the business of the deceased's proprietorship firm is still being carried out in as much as now the brother of the deceased along with two employees is running the business. Therefore, instead of granting loss of dependency based on the income of the business being carried by deceased Raj Kumar, the Claims Tribunal proceeded to award compensation on the basis of the income of a skilled worker. The Claims Tribunal further added certain amounts towards non -pecuniary damages to compute the overall compensation of Rs.13,32,672/ -.
(3.) THE following contentions are raised on behalf of the Appellants: - (i) The Claims Tribunal erred in not considering the income of the deceased from the business while considering the loss of dependency on the basis of income of a skilled worker. (ii) The Appellants proved the Income Tax Returns (ITRs) for the Assessment Years 2006 -2007, 2007 -2008 and 2009 -2010 and the Claims Tribunal ought to have granted loss of dependency on the income as returned by the deceased Raj Kumar to the Income Tax Department. Since the income of the deceased was gradually increasing and he was aged only 35 years at the time of his death, the Appellants are entitled to an addition of 50% towards future prospects; (iii) The compensation awarded towards non -pecuniary damages is on the lower side; and (iv) Father of the deceased was aged 63 years. He ought to have been considered as a dependent and, therefore, there should have been deduction of 1/5th share instead of 1/4th share towards personal expenses as taken by the Claims Tribunal.;