Neutral Citation No. - 2025:AHC:80778 Court No. - 48 Case :- FIRST APPEAL FROM ORDER No. - 3183 of 2007 Appellant :- Ram Bahadur And Others Respondent :- National Insurance Co. Ltd. And Others Counsel for Appellant :- A.L. Jaiswal,Sharve Singh Hon'ble Vipin Chandra Dixit,J. List has been revised. Heard Sri Sharve Singh, learned counsel for the appellants and Sri Komal Mehrotra, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the Insurance Company- respondent no.1. No one is present on behalf of respondent no. 2, who is owner of the vehicle. This first appeal from order has been filed under Section 173 of Motor Vehicle Act, 1988 on behalf of the claimants-appellants for enhancement of compensation against the judgment and award dated 25.07.2007 passed by Additional District Judge, Court No. 13/Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Allahabad in M.A.C.P. No. 442 of 2002 (Ram Bahadur and others vs. Rajendra Prasad Agrahari and others) by which compensation of Rs.1,62,000/- along-with 6% interest has been awarded to the claimants-appellants on account of death of Anita Devi, who died in a road accident occurred on 01.06.2002. It is submitted by learned counsel for the appellant that the Claim Tribunal has erred in awarding a very meager amount of compensation in favour of claimants- appellants. The claimants-appellants have fully proved the income of the deceased as Rs. 5000/- to 6000/-p.m and Claims Tribunal has erred in calculating the compensation on the basis of notional income of Rs. 15,000/- per annum. The age of the deceased was 20 years at the time of accident and as per postmortem report also the age of the deceased was 20 years. The Claims Tribunal has accepted the age of the deceased in between 15-20 years but had erred in applying multiplier of 16, whereas multiplier of 18 is applicable for the age group of 15-20 years as per the judgment of Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of Sarla Verma vs. Delhi Road Transport Corporation reported in 2009(2) TAC 677 (S.C.). It is further submitted that nothing has been awarded towards future prospects and only Rs. 2,000/- was awarded for funeral expenses, where as the claimants-appellants are entitled for 40% future prospects and Rs. 70,000/- for non pecuniary damages in view of law laid down by Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of National Insurance Company Ltd. vs. Pranay Sethi reported in 2017(4) T.A.C. 673. No other ground has been pressed by the learned counsel for the appellants. On the other hand, learned counsel for Insurance Company submits that the compensation awarded by the Claims Tribunal is almost just and proper and no ground for enhancement is made out. Considered the submissions of the learned counsel for the parties and perused the record. In the present case the accident was occurred on 01.06.2002 and the Claims Tribunal has erred in accepting the notional income of Rs. 15,000/- per annum in absence of any authentic evidence in respect of the income of the deceased. The Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of Laxmi Devi & Others Vs Mohammad Tabbar & Another reported in 2008 (2) T.A.C. 394 (S.C.) has provided the notional income of Rs. 3,000/-for the accident of 2004. The income of the deceased is accepted as Rs. 3,000/- p.m. The Claims Tribunal has also erred in applying multiplier of 16 whereas the multiplier of 18 would be applicable on the age of deceased as provided by Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of Sarla Verma(supra) for the age group of 15-20 years. The claimants-appellants are also entitled for 40% future prospects and Rs. 30,000/- for non pecuniary damages as per the judgment of Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of Pranay Sethi(supra). Considering the rival submissions of learned counsels for the parties, the compensation awarded by the Claims Tribunal is reassessed as below:- 1) Monthly income = Rs.3,000/- 2) Annual income = Rs. 3,000/- X 12= Rs.36,000/- 3) Future prospects (40%) = Rs.14,400/- 4) Total annual income = Rs.36,000/- + Rs.14,400/- =Rs.50,400/- 5) Deduction towards personal expenses(1/3rd) = Rs.50,400/- - Rs.16,800/- =Rs.33,600/- 6) Multiplier applicable (18) =Rs.33,600/- x 18 = Rs.6,04,800/- 7) Non-pecuniary damages =Rs.30,000/- Total = Rs.6,04,800/- + Rs.30,000/- = Rs.6,34,800/- In view of aforesaid discussion, the appeal filed by claimants is hereby partly allowed and award of the Claims Tribunal is modified and compensation is enhanced from Rs.1,62,000/- to Rs.6,34,800/-. The claimants-appellants are also entitled for 4% interest on the enhanced amount from the date of award of Claims Tribunal i.e. 25.7.2007. The National Insurance Company Limited is directed to deposit enhanced amount along with interest, within two months from today before the concerned Motor Accident Claims Tribunal. The claimants are entitled to withdraw the entire deposited amount without furnishing any surety. No order as to costs. Order Date :- 12.5.2025 PS Digitally signed by :- POOJA SHARMA High Court of Judicature at Allahabad