Mahesh Bhagwati - (1.) BEING dissatisfied with the amount of compensation under the impugned award dated 23rd April. 2001 rendered by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Jaipur City, Jaipur, the appellant-claimants have preferred this appeal for enhancement of quantum of compensation.
(2.) IN this ease, the driver of the Jeep bearing registration No. RJ 26 C-421 drove the vehicle rashly negligently and rammed the stable (standing) Matador at its back resulting into the injuries to Rajendra Kumar Saini and the death of Mahaveer Singh, who was the driver of Matador. Heard learned Counsel for the parties and perused the relevant material on record including the impugned award. Learned Counsel for the appellants has restricted his arguments only to one point of application of multiplier. He contended that at the time of death of Mahaveer Singh, the age of father Bhanwar Singh was 53 years and the age of mother Smt. Gulab Kanwar w/o Bhanwar Singh was 48 years but the learned Tribunal considered only the age of father, for applying the multiplier, as shown in the II Schedule of Motor Vehicles Act. He further contended that when the age of the mother and father, who are dependants are different, then the lesser age of the spouse should be taken into consideration for computing the quantum of compensation. If the age of mother is taken into consideration, which is found to be 48 years in the instant case, then as per the II Schedule appended to the Motor Vehicles Act, a multiplier of 13 is required to be applied. Learned Counsel for the respondents, in contra, has defend the impugned award and called the same to be just and proper and prayed to dismiss the appeal. Having considered the submissions made at the Bar and carefully scanned the relevant material on record, it is noticed that the age of the mother of the deceased Mahaveer Prasad was 48 years at the time of his death. The learned Tribunal considered the age of deceased's father only. Since, it is social welfare legislation, 1, having found force in the submissions of learned counsel for the appellant, deem just and proper to consider the age of Smt. Gulab Kanwar. Who is mother of the deceased and who was 48 years of age at the time of his death. In the II Schedule of the Motor Vehicles Act, a multiplier of 13 has been shown against the age bracket of above 45 years to 50 years, hence, after applying the multiplier of 13, the impugned award deserves to be modified, which is an under: Rs. 2,000 x 12 x 13 = Rs. 3,12,000. Rs. 3,12,000 + Rs. 20,000 = Rs. 3,32,000.
(3.) THUS, the appellants -claimants are entitled to claim Rs.3,32,000 instead of Rs. 2,84,000 from the respondents severally and jointly. For the reasons stated above, the appeal is allowed. The amount of compensation under the award is enhanced from Rs.2,84,000 to Rs.3,32,000. The rest of the terms and conditions of the award shall remain unchanged. The impugned award stands modified as indicated hereinabove. There shall be no order as to costs.;