- (1.) This civil misc. appeal under Section 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (hereinafter 'the Act of 1988') has been filed against the order dated 15.01.2003, passed by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (Special Court, Dacoity Effected Area), Bharatpur, in claim case No.227/2001 aggrieved of the purportedly inadequate compensation awarded to the claimants-appellants (hereinafter 'the claimants') for the death of their bread winner one Sita Ram Verma.
(2.) The facts of the case are that in an accident of 14.02.2001, stated to have occurred at 7 pm, one Sita Ram Verma travelling on a camel cart was alleged to have been injured in an accident occasioned by the rash and negligent driving of a bus bearing registration No.RJ-05, P-0879 owned by Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation (hereinafter 'RSRTC') of one Om Veer Singh. Sita Ram Verma, injured in the said accident, expired and was declared brought dead at the Government Hospital, Bharatpur. The cause of death was injuries resulting from the accident of 14.02.2001 as stated hereinabove.
(3.) The claimants being the widow of Sita Ram Verma and his three minor children filed a claim petition under Section 166 of the Act of 1988. It was stated in the claim petition that the deceased Sita Ram Verma at the time of his death was 45 years of age, working as a 'Daftari' with the Punjab National Bank, Branch Bayana and drawing a salary of Rs.7,444.50/- per month at the relevant time. In the context of the age of the deceased Sita Ram Verma and the alleged loss of dependency resulting from the accident of 14.02.2001, an amount of Rs.34,49,080/- was claimed as compensation. The respondent-non-claimant (hereinafter 'the non-claimant') filed a reply of denial to the claim petition. It was stated in the reply that the accident of 14.02.2001 had occurred owing to the negligence on the part of the camel cart driver. It was prayed that no negligence being attributable to the driver of the bus owned by the non-claimant-RSRTC, the claim petition filed by the claimants deserved dismissal. On the basis of the pleadings of the parties, the learned Tribunal, Bharatpur framed three issues.;