UNITED INDIA INSURANCE CO. LTD. Vs. HUSSAN JAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) United India Insurance Company Limited (Insurance Company for short), is in appeal against the award dtd. 12/2/2016 passed by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Poonch (the Tribunal for short) passed in File No.32/2012 titled Hussan Jan and others Vs United India Insurance Company Limited and others. The appeal is primarily on quantum and, therefore, there is no necessity to go to the facts in detail. The claimants before the Tribunal i.e. the respondent Nos. 1 to 4 are next of kins of the deceased Mohd. Shafeeq who had died in the motor vehicular accident that took place on 8/12/2009 at Khaneter involving the offending vehicle being driven rashly and negligently by the respondent No.5. The respondent No.1 is wife, respondent Nos. 2 and 3 are major sons and respondent No.4 is major daughter of the deceased, Mohd. Shafeeq. They all filed a claim petition before the Tribunal seeking inter alia compensation to the tune of Rs.15.00 lacs. In the claim petition, the respondent Nos. 1 to 4 claimed that the deceased at the time of accident, was 50 years old and was a carpenter by profession. The claim petition was contested by all the respondents. The appellant-insurance company refuted the claim of the claimants that the deceased at the time of accident, was 50 years old and that he was working as a carpenter and earning Rs.15,000.00 per month. The identity card issued by the Election Commission of India in favour of the deceased, was also placed on record by the appellant -insurance company to indicate that the deceased at the time of accident was 57 years old. On the basis of pleadings of the parties, the Tribunal framed the following issues:

(2.) Issue Nos.1 and 3 were proved in favour of the claimants and against the appellant-insurance company. The appellant-insurance company is not aggrieved of the decision of the aforesaid issues. What is objected by the appellant-insurance company in this appeal, is the amount of compensation paid by the Tribunal under different heads.

(3.) Before proceeding further, it would be appropriate to take note of the manner in which the Tribunal has worked the compensation payable to the claimants. The Tribunal has taken monthly income of the deceased as Rs.8000.00 on the ground that, as claimed, the deceased was a tailor and used to earn Rs.1000.00 per day. Age of the deceased has been taken by the Tribunal as 48 years by way of referring to post mortem report placed on record by the claimants. 13 is the multiplier applied by the Tribunal to work out the actual loss of dependency of the respondents. So far as deductions on account of personal expenses are concerned, 1/4th of established income of the deceased has been taken into account. There is, however, no amount added by way of loss of future prospectus. In the result, the Tribunal has ordered a sum of Rs.9,76,000.00 with the following break up: