-1- 2025:CGHC:19247 NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR MAC No. 845 of 2020 1 - Nirmati Mehar W/o Late Pandit Ram Aged About 55 Years 2 - Rathbai Mehar D/o Late Pandit Ram Aged About 29 Years 3 - Raghuvar Singh Mehar S/o Late Pandit Ram Aged About 24 Years All are R/o Madwa Chandrapur District Janjgir Champa, Chhattisgarh, Present R/o Village Masturi PS Masturi District Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh ... Appellant (s) versus 1 - Sunil Kumar S/o Ratan Singh Aged About 35 Years R/o Laxminagar Manpuri Chauraha Sikandarabad District Firozabad (UP) (Vehicle Truck No. R J 9 GB 8138) (Driver) 2 - Ajay Kumar Patel S/o Shiv Shankar Patel R/o Sakin G 4/11 Rohini North West Delhi, A/P- Ramdev Ji Ka Chandriya Chaiturgarh Rajasthan. (Vehicle Truck No. RJ 9 GB 8138) (Owner) 3 - Universal Sompo General Insurance Company Ltd Through Its Branch Manager Office Address 1st Floor, B-7, Shree Ram Nagar, TV Tower Road, Raipur, Chhattisgarh ... Respondent(s) __________________________________________________________ For Appellant (s) : Mr. Jashraj Singh Bhatia, Advocate on behalf of Mr. D.L. Dewangan, Advocate For Resp. No.3 : Mr. Sourabh Sharma with Mr. Sourabh Gupta, Advocates _______________________________________________________ S.B.: Hon'ble Shri Parth Prateem Sahu, Judge Judgment On Board 29/04/2025 1. With the consent of learned counsel appearing for the parties, the Digitally signed by PRAVEEN KUMAR SINHA Date: 2025.05.09 10:16:32 +0530 -2- case is heard finally. 2. This is the claimants’ appeal filed under Section 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (for short “Act of 1988”) seeking enhancement of amount of compensation awarded by learned Second Additional Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, Bilaspur (CG) vide award dated 03.01.2020 passed in Claim Case No.302 of 2019. 3. Facts relevant for disposal of this appeal are that on 07.02.2019, Raghunath Mehar was going from Kudumkela to Raigarh along with his father Pandit Ram Mehar on a motorcycle. As soon as they reached near Jindal Trauma Centre, Punjipathra, driver of truck no. RJ-09 GB-8138 near drove the truck rashly and negligently and dashed against Raghunath Mehar and his father causing an accident, as a result of which, Raghunath Mehar and his father Pandit Ram Mehar received grievous injuries and both of them died during treatment. 4. Claimants/appellants who are mother, sister and brother of deceased- Raghunath Mehar filed an application under Section 166 of the Act of 1988 pleading therein that deceased Raghunath Mehar was 26 years old, who was earning Rs. 15,000/- per month by working as a Mason and maintaining the applicants from the said income. Applicants were dependent on the income of the deceased. Due to untimely death of the deceased, the applicants have been deprived of the income of the deceased. They prayed for total compensation of Rs.37,10,000/- under different heads. 5. As non-applicants No. 1 & 2 did not appear in the proceedings before the Claims Tribunal and they were proceeded ex-parte. 6. Respondent No.3/Insurance Company by filing its written statement -3- has denied the pleadings made in the claim application and it is stated that non-applicant No. 1 has not driven the vehicle rashly and negligently. It is the driver of motorcycle Raghunath who drove the motorcycle rashly and negligently. Despite having knowledge that non-applicant No. 1 did not have valid and effective driving licence to drive heavy goods vehicle/transport vehicle on the date of the alleged accident, yet non-applicant No.2/owner was operating the vehicle which is in violation of the terms of insurance policy, therefore, non-applicant No.3/Insurance Company has no liability to pay amount of compensation, if any. It was further stated that after the alleged accident, non-applicants No.1 and 2 did not intimate about the accident. As per the First Information Report and criminal case, the accident was with unknown vehicle. Therefore, claim application against non-applicant/ insurance company is not maintainable and it be dismissed. 7. Learned Claims Tribunal, on appreciation of pleadings and evidence brought on record by respective parties, held that on the date of accident, offending vehicle was being driven by non- applicant No.1 rashly and negligently, due to which, an accident occurred in which Raghunath Mehar and his father Pandit Ram Mehar suffered grievous injuries and died during course of their treatment. Recording a finding that breach of conditions of the insurance policy was not found proved, learned Claims Tribunal held non-applicant No.3 liable to pay the amount of compensation. Assessing income of the deceased as Rs.6,000/- per month, calculating amount of compensation under different heads, awarded total compensation of Rs.9,37,200/ -. -4- 8. Learned counsel for the appellants/claimants raises a short point for enhancement of the amount of compensation, that while considering the income of the deceased who was stated to be working as Mason, learned Claims Tribunal erred in not considering the date of accident and wages prevailing on the date of accident, as also not considered the fact that deceased was a skilled labourer. He further submits that no amount towards loss of consortium has been awarded to appellant/claimants. He prays for enhancement of the amount of compensation suitably. 9. On the other hand, learned counsel for respondent/Insurance Company opposes the submission of learned counsel for the appellants/claimants and submits that the amount of compensation awarded is just and proper in the facts of the case and it does not call for any interference. 10. I have heard learned counsel for the parties and also perused the records of the Claims Tribunal. 11. There is no challenge to the finding recorded by Tribunal that non- applicant No.1 is the driver of offending vehicle, which caused the accident, the owner of the offending vehicle is non-applicant No. 2 and the insurer of said vehicle is non-applicant No. 3. 12. So far as the ground raised by learned counsel for the appellants with regard to assessing income of the deceased is concerned, even if claimants failed to establish nature of occupation and income of deceased then also deceased Raghunath Mehar is to be treated as Labourer and his income is to be assessed considering the wages prevailing, price index, cost of living or as per the minimum wages notified under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948. -5- 13. For the purpose of assessing income of deceased on notional basis in absence of any specific evidence, this Court finds it appropriate to take help of the Notification issued by the Commissioner-cum- Competent Authority under Minimum Wages Act, 1948, Chhattisgarh, Raipur. In the Notification for ‘Class-C zone/area’ for ‘unskilled labourer’, monthly income has been prescribed as Rs.7,800/- per month. In absence of admissible piece of evidence of occupation and income of deceased, on the date of accident, if the deceased is to be treated as Labourer, his income should not have been less than Rs.7,800/- per month (minimum wages fixed by competent authority), hence, the income of the deceased is assessed as Rs.7,800/- per month instead of Rs.6000/- per month as held by learned Claims Tribunal. It is ordered accordingly. 14. From perusal of the impugned award shows that as on the date of accident i.e. 07.02.2019 deceased Raghunath Mehar was aged about 25 years, an addition of 40% in the assessed income of the deceased towards loss of future prospects has correctly been made by the learned Tribunal. Further, looking to the fact that the deceased was unmarried, deduction of 1/2 towards personal and living expenses as also multiplier of 18 has correctly been applied by learned Claims Tribunal. 15. So far as the amount of compensation on other conventional heads is concerned, learned Claims Tribunal has not awarded any amount of consortium to appellants/claimants who is mother, sister and brother of deceased Raghunath Mehar. Principle of awarding compensation towards loss of consortium has been dealt with by Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of National Insurance -6- Company Ltd. Vs. Pranay Sethi and Ors. (2017) 16 SCC 680. The types of consortium has further been explained in the case of Magma General Insurance Co. Ltd. Vs. Nanu Ram alias Chuhru Ram & Ors. (2018) 18 SCC 130. In the case of Nanu Ram (supra), Hon’ble Supreme Court has explained that there are three types of consortium i.e. spousal consortium, parental consortium and filial consortium to be awarded to legal representatives of the deceased at the rate of Rs.40,000/- each. The claimant No.1 is mother of deceased and claimants No. 2 & 3 are the sister and brother of deceased. As per the law down in the case of Nanu Ram (supra), appellant/claimant No. 1 will be entitled for amount of Rs.40,000/- towards loss of filial consortium. It is ordered accordingly. 16. For the foregoing discussions and the judgments of Hon’ble Supreme Court as above, I find it appropriate to re-compute the amount of compensation as under:- S. N. Heads Compensation 1. (A) Loss of Income/dependency 7800 x 12 = 93,600 (B) Addition towards future prospects @ 40% (93600 x 40% =37440) 93600 + 37440 = 1,31,040 (C) Deduction of 1/2 towards personal and living expenses (1,31,040 x 1/2 =65520) 1,31,040- 65520 = 65,520 (D) Multiplier of 18 65,520 x 18 = 11,79,360/- Rs. 11,79,360 2. Funeral Expenses : (+) Rs. 15,000 3. Loss of Estate : (+) Rs. 15,000 -7- 4. Loss of Filial Consortium of Rs.40,000/- to claimant No. 1 : (+) Rs. 40,000 Total compensation : Rs. 12,49,360 17. Now the appellants/claimants are awarded total compensation of Rs. 12,49,360/- instead of Rs.9,37,200/- as awarded by the Claims Tribunal. 18. Aforementioned total amount of compensation shall carry interest @ 6% per annum from the date of filing of claim application till its realization. Any amount of compensation already paid to the claimants shall be adjustable from the total amount of compensation which has now been calculated and awarded by this Court. Other conditions of impugned award shall remain intact. 19. In the result, appeal is allowed in part. Impugned award is modified to the extent as indicated herein above. Sd/--/- Sd/- (Parth Prateem Sahu) Judge Praveen