1 NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR MAC No. 511 of 2019 1 - Meera Devi Wd/o Late Awadhesh Soni Aged About 28 Years R/o Village Karkoti, P.S. Jhilmili, District- Surajpur, Chhattisgarh., District : Surajpur, Chhattisgarh 2 - Dulari Soni Wd/o Late Ghuraram Aged About 70 Years R/o Village Karkoti, P.S. Jhilmili, District- Surajpur, Chhattisgarh., District : Surajpur, Chhattisgarh 3 - Dipesh Kumar Soni S/o Late Awadhesh Soni Aged About 30 Years R/o Village Karkoti, P.S. Jhilmili, District- Surajpur, Chhattisgarh., District : Surajpur, Chhattisgarh 4 - Madhuri Soni D/o Late Awadhesh Soni Aged About 28 Years R/o Village Karkoti, P.S. Jhilmili, District- Surajpur, Chhattisgarh., District : Surajpur, Chhattisgarh 5 - Rakesh Kumar S/o Late Awadhesh Soni Aged About 26 Years R/o Village Karkoti, P.S. Jhilmili, District- Surajpur, Chhattisgarh...............(Claimants), District : Surajpur, Chhattisgarh ... Appellants versus 1 - Vijay Kumar Jaiswal S/o Shri Ramsundar Jaiswal Aged About 42 Years R/o Village Dharampur, Chowki- Khadgawon, P.S. Paratappur, District- Surajpur, Chhattisgarh.......... (Driver And Owner), District : Surajpur, Chhattisgarh 2 - The New India Insurance Company Limited Branch Office, Banaras Chowk, Ambikappur, P.S. And Tahsil Ambikapur, District- Sarguja, Chhattisgarh............ (Insurer).........(Non-Applicants), District : Surguja (Ambikapur), Chhattisgarh ... Respondent(s) For Appellants : Mr. Balraj Gupta, Advocate For Respondent No. 2 : Mr. Qamrul Aziz, Advocate Hon'ble Shri Justice Sachin Singh Rajput, Order on Board 10.09.2025 HIFZURRAHMAN ANSARI Digitally signed by HIFZURRAHMAN ANSARI Date: 2025.09.16 17:46:45 +0530 2 1) This appeal under Section 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (for short MV Act) has been filed by the appellants/claimants, being aggrieved by the award dated 11.12.2018 passed by the Second Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Surajpur District- Surajpur (C.G.) (for short ‘learned Tribunal’) in Claim Case No. 67/2018. 2) By the impugned award, the learned Tribunal has awarded compensation of Rs. 6,55,000/- to the appellants/claimants, on account of the death of deceased Awadhesh Soni in an accident that took place on 19.03.2018 by rash and negligent driving of the offending vehicle (Car) bearing Registration No. CG- 29-A-3961 by respondent No.1/Driver-cum-owner and insured with respondent No.2/Insurance company. As a result of the said accident, the deceased died in hospital during treatment. 3) As per the pleadings, the deceased/ Awadhesh Soni was aged about 49 years and was engaged in business of selling utensils and earning a monthly income of Rs. 20,000/-. The appellants/claimants were dependent upon the income of the deceased. 4) The respondent No. 1 filed his written statement and denied the averments of the fact. Respondent No.2/Insurance company in usual course, denied the averments of the claim application and pleaded that the driver of the offending vehicle did not have valid and effective driving licence and there is a violation of terms and conditions of insurance policy. 5) On the basis of the above pleadings, the learned Tribunal has framed issues and after appreciating the material available on record decided the same in favour of the appellants/claimants and awarded above stated compensation. 6) Learned counsel for the appellants/claimants submits that the compensation awarded by the learned Tribunal is on the lower side, as the income of the 3 deceased has been wrongly assessed. It is further submitted that no amount towards consortium has been granted to appellants/claimants Nos. 2 to 6. Hence, it is prayed that suitable enhancement of compensation may be made by this Court. 7) Per contra, learned counsel for respondent No. 2 supports the award and submits that appellants Nos. 3 and 5 are major sons and, therefore, not dependent upon the income of the deceased, while appellant No. 4 is a married daughter. Thus, in view of the evidence available on record, the findings of the learned Tribunal are justified, and just compensation has been awarded. 8) I have heard learned counsel for the parties, considered their rival submissions and perused the records. 9) The learned Tribunal has rightly applied the deduction of 1/3rd towards personal expenses of the deceased, considering that appellants Nos. 3 and 5 are major sons and appellant No. 4 is a married daughter. This deduction appears to be based on proper appreciation of evidence and, therefore, is maintained. However, the learned Tribunal committed an error in assessing the monthly income of the deceased at only Rs. 4,500/-. 10) Considering the evidence available on record; age of the deceased; date of accident; number of dependents nature of job; this Court is of the view that Rs. 85,00/- can be safely taken as monthly income of the deceased. 11) In light of the above and taking guidance from the judgment of Hon’ble Supreme Court in the matter of National Insurance Company Ltd. V. Pranay Sethi and others; (2017) 16 SCC 680, Sarla Verma & Ors. Vs. Delhi Transport Corporation & Ors; (2009) 6 SCC 121 and Magma 4 General Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Nanu Ram @ Chuhru Ram & Ors; (2018) 18 SCC 130, this Court is recomputing the compensation as below:- S.N Particular Awarded by this Court 1. Monthly Income of the deceased 8,500/- 2. Future Prospect 25% 8,500 25%=2,125/- 3. Net Income 8,500+2,125=10,625/- 4. Yearly income 10,625 X12=1,27,500/- 5. Personal expenditure 1/3 1,27,500/3= 42,500/- 6. Yearly dependency 1,27,500-42,500=85,000/- 7. Multiplier of 13 applied to assess loss of dependency 85,000 X13= 11,05,000/- 8. Funeral Expenses 15,000/- 9. Loss of estate 15,000/- 10. Parental and spousal consortium 02,00,000/- (40,000/- each to A-1 to A-5) Total compensation Rs. 13,35,000/- 12) For the forgoing reasons, the appeal is allowed in part. The amount of compensation of Rs.6,55,000/- awarded by the Tribunal is enhanced to Rs. 13,35,000/-. Hence, after deducting the amount of Rs. 6,55,000/-, the appellants/claimants are held entitled for an additional amount of Rs. 6,80,000/-. The additional amount shall carry interest @6% per anuum from the date of appeal i.e. 28.02.2019. The impugned award stands modified to the above extent. 13) The respondent No. 2 insurance company is directed to deposit the amount of compensation enhanced by this Court within a period of 60 days. On such deposit being made, the learned Tribunal shall pass an appropriate order with regard to apportionment, investment and disbursement of enhanced amount to claimants. 14) Consequently, the appeal is partly allowed. Sd/- (Sachin Singh Rajput) Judge H.Ansari