Uttaranchal High Court: Appeal against the order of Motor Accident Claim Tribunal was entertained by Alok Singh, J. where the petitioner sought enhancement of the claim awarded by the Tribunal.
The deceased along with another was on a scooter, the deceased was a pillion rider, on their way the scooter was hit by an ambassador car, both the boys were grievously hurt and eventually deceased succumbed to his injuries. The claim of the family of the deceased was granted partly and thereby the appellant felt aggrieved by the order.
M.K. Goyal, Advocate for the appellants had challenged the judgment of the Tribunal on the following counts: first, Tribunal had failed to consider the monthly income of deceased as Rs 14,500; second Tribunal had applied the wrong multiplier and third, Tribunal had awarded fewer amount towards funeral expenses and no amount awarded for loss of estate. All the proper documents which ascertained the income of the deceased were annexed.
The Court regarding the submission of the appellant held that, Tribunal had not erred in making an order as related to the ascertainment of the income of the deceased as the documents submitted were not reliable. But further in respect to the multiplier, it stated that, “since deceased was aged about 18 years, therefore, Tribunal has erred in applying the multiplier of 13. In view of law laid down by the Supreme Court in the case of National Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Pranay Sethi, (2017) 16 SCC 680, the multiplier should be of 18.”
The Court noticed that funeral charges granted by the Tribunal was Rs 5000, which was increased by the Court along with the compensation towards loss of estate. It further revalued the income of the deceased and applied the multiplier of 18 and calculated the compensation.[Satish Kumar Garg v. Sri Nar Bahadur, 2019 SCC OnLine Utt 500, decided on 14-06-2019]
