- (1.) RAJEEV Gupta, C. J. This is claimants' appeal for enhancement of the compensation awarded by Motor Accident Claims Tri bunal / District Judge, Champawat vide Award dated 21-05-2005 passed in M. A. C. P. No. 47 of 2004.
(2.) THE claimants, who are unfortu nate widow, minor children and mother of deceased Ramesh Singh, claimed compensation of Rs. 8,79,000/- for his death in the motor accident when on 15-07- 2004 he was dashed by the Jeep bearing registration No. U. A. 03 2159 resulting in multiple serious injuries to Ramesh Singh, who succumbed to those injuries during the course of his treatment in the intervening night of 16th /17th July, 2004. THE claimants pleaded that the deceased was working as an Assist ant with a contractor and used to earn Rs. 5,000/-per month. The owner and insurer of the of fending vehicle Jeep contested the claim and denied their liability to pay compen sation to the claimants. The owner took the plea that the deceased himself was negligent and as such, the driver of the Jeep was not responsible for the acci dent. The insurer, on the other hand, pleaded that the Jeep was being plied in breach of the policy conditions. The claimants examined P. W. I Mayawati, P. W. 2 Prakash Chand Sharma and P. W. 3 Bhawan Singh in support of their claim, whereas the owner and insurer of the Jeep did not examine any witness in rebuttal.
(3.) THE Tribunal, on a close scrutiny of the evidence led by the parties, held that deceased Ramesh Singh died on account of the injuries sustained by him in the motor accident; the accident occurred due to the rash and negligent driving of the driver of the Jeep; and the insurer of the Jeep was liable to pay compensation to the claimants. As the Tribunal did not find the evidence led by the claimants about the income of the deceased reliable, his in come was assessed at Rs. 15,000/- per annum on the basis of the notional in come prescribed in the Second Sched ule under Section 163-A of the Motor Vehicles Act. By deducting a portion of the above amount of Rs. 15,000/- as the personal expenses of the deceased, the claimants' dependency was assessed at Rs. 11,000/- per annum. By multiplying the annual dependency of Rs. 11. 000/-with the multiplier of '17', the compen sation was worked out to Rs. 1,87,000/ -. The Tribunal further awarded Rs. 2,000/-towards Funeral Expenses and Rs. 5. 000/- for Loss of Consortium to the widow and thus, a total sum of Rs. 1,94,000/- was awarded as compensa tion to the claimants for the death of Ramesh Singh in the motor accident. The Tribunal further directed the insurer of the Jeep to pay interest on the amount of compensation at the rate of 8% per annum from the date of the claim petition in the event of its failure to pay the amount of compensation to the claimants within a period of two months from the date of the Award.;