KAILASH PRASAD DEO,J. - (1.) Heard, learned counsel for the appellant.
(2.) Appellant- ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Ltd. has preferred this appeal against the award dated 09.01.2019 passed by the learned District Judge XIV-cum-Addl. Motor Accident Claim Tribunal, Dhanbad in Motor Accident Claim Case No.317 of 2017, whereby the claimants have been awarded compensation to the tune of Rs.66,05,188/- along with simple interest @ 9% per annum from the date of filing of the claim application till its realization. The learned Tribunal has distributed the amount to the claimants except Swati Sinha in equal proportion.
(3.) Learned counsel for the appellant has assailed the impugned award on three counts:- (i) Number of claimants in the first page of the memo of award shows four dependents upon the deceased- Anish Kumar Sinha, whereas in the evidence which has been recorded at para 15 of the impugned award while deciding issue nos.1 and 6 at internal page 13 of the impugned award, that Swati Sinha daughter of the deceased was married prior to death of Anish Kumar Sinha. The learned Tribunal has rightly excluded her as dependent but while computing the deduction towards personal and living expenses of the deceased, the learned Tribunal has wrongly deducted the same as 1/4 th, as the number of dependent remained 3- i.e. Manju Sinha, Sneha Sinha and Anurag Sinha, as such, deduction ought to have been 1/3rd in view of the judgment passed by the Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of Sarla Verma (Smt) and others vs. Delhi Transport Corporation and another, reported in (2009) 6 SCC 121. (ii) Learned counsel for the appellant has submitted that the learned Tribunal has considered the entire salary of the deceased as income for computing the compensation. The deceased- Anish Kumar Sinha was posted as Accountant in BCCL and was earning Rs.70,157/- per month as his salary but the tax component has not been deducted, as such, the learned Tribunal has wrongly considered income of the deceased as Rs.70,157/- per month for computation of compensation which is contrary to the judgment passed by the Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of National Insurance Company Ltd. vs. Pranay Sethi reported in (2017) 16 SCC 680 para 59.8. (iii) Learned counsel for the appellant has submitted that interest has been awarded with simple interest @ 9% per annum from the date of filing of the claim application till its realization which is contrary to the judgment passed by the Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of Dharmpal and Sons Vs. UP State Road Transport Corporation, 2008 (4) JCR 79 SC, where the Hon'ble Apex Court has held that interest ought to have been given at the prevalent rate of interest of the bank on the date of award or simple interest @ 7.5% from the date of filing of the claim application, as such, notice may be issued to the claimants-respondent nos. 1 to 4 [1. Manju Sinha, W/o Late Anish Kumar Sinha, 2. Swati Sinha, 3. Sneha Sinha, both D/o Late Anish Kumar Sinha and 4. Anurag Sinha, S/o Late Anish Kumar Sinha, All r/o House No.16, New Quarter, Bhowra Near Durga Mandir, P.O. Bhowra, P.S. Bhowra, District Dhanbad (Jharkhand)]. ;