1 NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR MAC No. 199 of 2024 1 - Ramkirtan Khunte S/o Santram Khunte Aged About 37 Years, R/o Village Devri, Police Station Shivrinarayan, District : Janjgir-Champa, Chhattisgarh 2 - Shanti Khunte W/o Ramkirtan Khunte Aged About 35 Years, R/o Village Devri, Police Station Shivrinarayan, District : Janjgir-Champa, Chhattisgarh ... Appellant (s) versus 1 - Bablu Yadav S/o Shyam Lal Yadav Aged About 23 Years R/o Village Tiwari, Police Station Majhouri, District Singhi M.P. , At Present Address Housing Board Baloda Bazar, Arjuni, Police Station And District Baloda Bazar-Bhatapara, Chhattisgarh (Driver Of Vehicle Capsules Bearing Registration No. C G 04 L Z 8027). 2 - Bhagwati Prasad Sharma S/o Shyam Sundar Sharma R/o Golden House No. 1, Khamardih, Shankar Nagar Raipur, District- Raipur, Chhattisgarh (Owner Of Vehicle Capsules Bearing Registration No. C G 04 L Z 8027). 3 - United India Insurance Company Limited L.I.C. Building, First Floor, Magarpara Road, Police Station Civil Line Bilaspur, Tahsil Bilaspur, District- Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh (Insurer Of Vehicle Capsules Bearing Registration No. C G 04 L Z 8027). ... Respondent(s) For Appellant (s) : Shri Govind Dewangan, Advocate For Respondent No.3 : Shri Pravesh Sahu, Advocate 2 Hon'ble Shri Justice Sachin Singh Rajput Order on Board 29/08/2025 Heard on I.A.No.1/2024, application under Section 5 of the Limitation Act, 1963 for condonation of delay in filing the appeal. 2. Though opposed, on due consideration and for the reasons stated in the application, delay of 419 days in filing the appeal is hereby condoned. However, the appellant shall not be entitled to any interest for the period of delay caused. 3. With the consent of the parties, the matter is heard finally. 4. This appeal under Section 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (for short ‘M.V.Act’) has been filed challenging the award dated 03/08/2022 passed in claim case No.23/2022 by the 1st Additional Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Janjgir, District–Janjgir-Champa (CG). By the impugned award, against a claim of Rs.52 lakhs, learned Tribunal has awarded compensation of Rs.9,84,200/- in favour of the appellants / claimants. 5. The claim application under Section 166 of the MV Act has been filed on account of death of Ritesh Kumar Khunte (son of the appellants) in an accident that occurred on 08/02/2022 by rash and negligent driving of the offending vehicle (Capsule) bearing registration No. CG 04 LZ 8027 by respondent No.1, owned by respondent No.2 and insured with respondent No.3. As per pleadings of the claim application, the deceased was aged about 20 years and working in medical store and was also engaged in agriculture and was earning Rs.50,000/- per month. Therefore, the aforestated compensation was claimed. 6. The respondents filed written statement and denied averments of the claim application. The insurance company took a plea that there is violation of the terms and conditions of the insurance policy. 7. On the basis of above pleadings, learned claims tribunal framed issues and decided the same in favour of the appellants / claimants and awarded the 3 abovestated compensation. 8. Learned counsel for the appellant / claimant submits that though award in all other respect is reasonable, however, learned Tribunal has only assessed the income of the deceased to Rs.6,000/- whereas looking to the minimum wages, Rs.7800/- ought to have been considered as monthly income of the deceased. Therefore, it is prayed that the amount of compensation may be enhanced. 9. Per contra, learned counsel for the respondent supports the impugned award and submits that the deceased was aged about 18 years and he was infact a non-earning person. Therefore, the income assessed by the learned Tribunal is based upon proper appreciation of evidence which does not require any interference. The appeal sans merit and is liable to be dismissed. 10. Heard learned counsel for the parties, considered their rival submissions and perused the record. 11. Learned Tribunal has awarded compensation of Rs.9,07,200/- on account of loss of dependency. As the award on all other respect appears to be reasonable, this Court is only recomputing the compensation in respect to the loss of dependency. 12. Taking into consideration the submission made, age of the deceased, date of incident, nature of job of the deceased and minimum wages, this Court is inclined to assess the monthly income of the deceased to Rs.7500/- and taking guidance from the judgments of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of Sarla Verma and ors. v. Delhi Transport Corporation and ors., (2009) 6 SCC 121, National Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Pranay Sethi and ors, (2017) 16 SCC 680 and Magma General Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Nanu Ram @ Chuhru Ram and ors., (2018) 18 SCC 130 propose to recompute the compensation in the following manner - 1. Monthly income Rs.7500/- 2. Future prospects 40% (7500 + 3000) Rs.10500/- 4 3. Yearly income (10500x12) Rs.126000/- 4. 1/2 deduction for personal expenses (92400/2) Rs.63000/- 5. Multiplier of 18 (63000 X 18) Rs.113400/- 6. The amount awarded by the Tribunal in respect to dependency Rs.907200/- Enhanced Compensation =Rs.2,26,800/- (113400-907200) 13. Looking to the facts and circumstances of the case, interest @ 6% is also awarded on the enhanced amount of compensation from the date of this order to be deposited by the insurance company within a period of 60 days. After the amount of compensation is deposited, Rs.1 lakh each be invested in the name of appellant No.1 and 2 as fixed deposit in a Nationalised Bank for a period of two years. Remaining amount shall be disbursed through Bank transaction / account payee cheque. 14. The appeal thus partly allowed. Sd/- ({Sachin Singh Rajput}) JUDGE Deepti DEEPTI HARIKUMAR Digitally signed by DEEPTI HARIKUMAR Date: 2025.09.01 14:09:53 +0530