M. Mansoor v. United India Insurance Co. Ltd. (SC) BS486122
SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

Before:- G.S. Singhvi and C. Nagappan, JJ.

Civil Appeal No. 8612 of 2013 (Arising out of Special Leave Petition (Civil) No. 31010 of 2010). D/d. 3.10.2013.

M. Mansoor and another - Appellants

Versus

United India Insurance Co. Ltd. - Respondent

For the Appellants :- P.B. Suresh and Udayaditya Banerjee, Advocates.

For the Respondent :- Zahid Ali, Advocate.

A. Motors Vehicle Act, 1988 Section 166 Fatal motor accident - The deceased was bachelor aged 24 years - Parents who were dependent on deceased have right to get compensation.

[Para 4]

B. Motors Vehicle Act, 1988 Section 166 Fatal motor accident - Deceased was bachelor aged 24 years and earning L 18,100/- p.m. - The deceased being bachelor and claimants being parents, the deduction of 50% has to be made as personal and living expenses in Terms of Sarla Verma Case, (2009(3) RCR (Civil) 77 : 2009(3) Recent Apex Judgment (RAJ) 373 - The Tribunal and High Court incorrectly made a deduction of ⅓rd only towards personal and living expenses of the deceased.

[Para 14]

C. Motors Vehicle Act, 1988 Section 166 Fatal motor accident - Deceased was bachelor aged 24 years - Computation of compensation - Multiplier of 18 will apply in terms of decision in Sarla Verma Case (2009(3) RCR (Civil) 77 : 2009(3) Recent Apex Judgment (RAJ) 373 - In the instant case multiplier of 18 be applied - Tribunal and High Court committed serious error by applying multiplier of 17 and 12 respectively.

[Para 16]

Cases Referred :-

Amrit Bhanu Shali v. National Insurance Company Limited, 2012(4) RCR (Civil) 343 : 2012(4) Recent Apex Judgments (R.A.J.) 427 : (2012)11 SCC 738.

Davies v. Powell Duffryn Associated Collieries Ltd. No. 2, (1942)1 All ER 657 (HL).

Nance v. British Columbia Electric Railway Co. Ltd., (1951) 2 All ER 448 (PC).

Sarla Verma v. Delhi Transport Corporation, 2009(3) RCR (Civil) 77 : 2009(3) Recent Apex Judgments (R.A.J.) 373 : (2009) 6 SCC 121.

U.P. SRTC v. Trilok Chandra, 1996(2) R.R.R. 718 : (1996) 4 SCC 362.

JUDGMENT

C. Nagappan, J. - Leave granted.

2. Feeling dissatisfied with the reduction of compensation determined by the Motor Claims Tribunal, Second Small Causes Court, Chennai in Motor Accident Claim No. M.A.C.T.O.P. No. 4973 of 2001, the appellants have preferred this appeal.

3. The deceased Amjath Khan Arabu, is the son of the appellants. The deceased was travelling as passenger in a Transport Corporation Bus bearing registration no.TN-01-N-6587 to Kumbakkonam from Tambaram on the Grand Southern Trunk Road, while the bus was proceeding near the village Silavattam, a container lorry bearing registration No. TN-01-C-6248 coming rashly and negligently in the opposite direction dashed against the Corporation Bus, resulting in the instantaneous death of five persons including the son of the appellants. The parents of the deceased-Amjath Khan Arabu, filed a claim petition under Section 166 of the Motors Vehicle Act (for short "the Act") for awarding of compensation to the tune of L 28,00,000/-. They pleaded that the accident was caused due to rash and negligent driving of the container lorry, owned by the Respondent No. 1 and that, at the time of his death the age of the deceased was 24 years and he was a MBA Graduate and employed as Business Manager in Intel Comox Management India and was earning L 18,100/- per month.

4. Respondent No. 1 did not appear and was set Ex-parte. Respondent No. 2, insurer of the container lorry, filed a written statement stating that the accident was not caused due to the negligence on the part of the driver of the container lorry and also denied the claimant's assertion about the income of their son Amjath Khan Arabu.

5. Two other claim petitions, arising out of the same accident, were clubbed with the claim petition of the appellants and the Tribunal framed the following issues :

6. In support of the claim petitions the first appellant examined himself as PW-1 and four other witnesses were also examined. PW-2 and PW-4 were travelling in the bus and witnessed the accident. According to PW-1 the first appellant, their son Amjath Khan Arabu studied MBA and has been working as the Business Manager in the Firm called Intel Comox Management India and his salary was L 18,100/-. Ex. A-1 to A-10 were marked as documents which included the Post Mortem Certificate, MBA Degree Certificate, - Appointment Order for the Job done, Salary Certificate and copy of the Bank Account. No evidence was let in by Respondent No. 2.

7. After analyzing the evidence, the Tribunal decided Issue No. 1 in the affirmative and held that accident was caused due to rash and negligent driving of container lorry owned by the first respondent.

8. While dealing with the Issue No. 2, the Tribunal accepted the evidence produced to show the employment of the deceased as Business Manager and his earning at L 18,100/- in the private company. It also determined that the deceased was a bachelor aged about 24 years at the time of accident. The Tribunal deducted ⅓rd of his monthly salary and determined the loss of earnings to family at L 12,067/-. The Tribunal then applied the multiplier 17 and declared that the claimants are entitled to get compensation of L 24,65,668/- with interest at the rate of 9% per annum from the date of claim petition.

9. Respondent No. 2 the Insurance Company challenged the award of the Tribunal by filing Civil Miscellaneous Appeal No.676 of 2005 before the High Court of judicature at Madras.

10. The High Court referred to the decisions of this Court including Sarla Verma v. Delhi Transport Corporation, 2009(3) RCR (Civil) 77 : 2009(3) Recent Apex Judgments (R.A.J.) 373 : (2009) 6 SCC 121 and by the impugned judgment dated 30.4.2010 reduced the compensation to L 15,14,648/- by applying multiplier of 12 and observed as follows :

11. The learned counsel appearing on behalf of the appellants relied upon the judgment of this Court in Sarla Verma case (supra) referred above and argued that the victim being aged 24 years the multiplier of 18 should have been applied but the High Court committed a serious error by applying the multiplier of 12, which was against the law laid down by this Court in the said decision. The learned counsel appearing on behalf of the Respondent No. 1- Insurance Company relying upon the same decision in Sarla Verma case (supra) contended that deceased being a bachelor, deduction of 50% towards personal and living expenses ought to have been made and the Tribunal as well as the High Court committed serious error by deducting one-third (⅓rd) only which was against the law laid down by this Court in the said decision. He also further contended that the deceased Amjath Khan Arabu was an unmarried person aged about 24 years and the High Court rightly applied the multiplier of 12 as per the age of the claimants (i.e.) parents.

12. We have considered the respective arguments and perused the record. The questions which arise for consideration are :

13. The question relating to deduction for personal and living expenses and selection of multiplier fell for consideration before this Court in Sarla Verma v. Delhi Transport Corporation (Supra) cited above and this Court referred to large number of precedents including the judgments in U.P. SRTC v. Trilok Chandra, 1996(2) R.R.R. 718 : (1996)4 SCC 362, Nance v. British Columbia Electric Railway Co. Ltd., (1951) 2 All ER 448 (PC), Davies v. Powell Duffryn Associated Collieries Ltd. No.2, (1942)1 All ER 657 (HL) and made an attempt to limit the exercise of discretion by the Tribunals and the High Courts in the matter of award of compensation by laying down straitjacket formula under different headings in its judgment some of which are enumerated below :

14. Admittedly, both the parents namely the appellants herein have been held to be dependants to the deceased Amjath Khan Arabu and therefore, the Tribunal held that they have the right to get the compensation. The Tribunal as well as the High Court made a deduction of ⅓rd only towards personal and living expenses of the deceased and as rightly contended by the learned counsel for the Respondent No. 1, the deceased being a bachelor and the claimants being parents, the deduction of 50% has to be made as personal and living expenses as per the decision of this Court in Sarla Verma case (supra) extracted above. The first question is determined accordingly.

15. The Tribunal adopted the multiplier of 17 and the High Court determined the multiplier as 12 on the basis of the age of the parents/claimants. This Court in the decision in Amrit Bhanu Shali & Ors. v. National Insurance Company Limited & Ors., 2012(4) RCR (Civil) 343 : 2012(4) Recent Apex Judgments (R.A.J.) 427 : (2012)11 SCC 738 held as follows :

16. In the decision in Sarla Verma case (supra) this Court held that the multiplier to be used should be as mentioned in column (4) of the table of the said judgment which starts with an operative multiplier of 18. As the age of the deceased at the time of the death was 24 years, the multiplier of 18 ought to have been applied. The Tribunal taking into consideration the age of the deceased wrongly applied the multiplier of 17 and the High Court committed a serious error by bringing it down to the multiplier of 12.

17. Appellants produced the Salary Certificate of deceased Amjath Khan Arabu, which has been marked as Ex.P-8. It shows that the deceased was earning L 18,100/- per month. The Tribunal has rightly taken into consideration the aforesaid income for computing the compensation. The annual income comes to L 2,17,200/-. If 50% of the said income is deducted towards personal and living expenses of the deceased the contribution to the family will be L 1,08,600/-. At the time of the accident the deceased Amjath Khan Arabu was a bachelor about 24 years old hence on the basis of the decision in Sarla Verma case (supra) applying the multiplier of 18, the amount will come to L 19,54,800/-. Besides this amount the claimants are entitled to get L 50,000/- each towards the loss of affection of the son i.e. L 1,00,000/- and L 10,000/- on account of funeral and ritual expenses. Therefore, the total amount comes to L 20,64,800/- and the claimants are entitled to get the said amount of compensation instead of the amount awarded by the Tribunal and the High Court. They would also be entitled to get interest at the rate of 6% per annum from the date of the filing of the claim petition till realization.

18. Accordingly, the appeal is allowed. The impugned judgment dated 30-4-2010 passed by the High Court of Madras in Civil Miscellaneous Appeal No.676 of 2005 is set aside and the award passed by the Tribunal is modified to the extent above. The amount which has already been received by appellants/claimants shall be adjusted and rest of the amount be paid at an early date. No order as to costs.

Appeal allowed.