IMPORTANT POINT
In presence of income tax return, the income should not have been determined on basis of evidence of witnesses.

JUDGMENT

V. Gopala Gowda, J. –

This appeal is filed by the appellants questioning the correctness of the judgment and final Order dated 30.01.2002 passed by the High Court of Judicature at Madras in Civil Misc. Appeal No. 1487 of 1999, urging various facts and legal contentions in justification of their claim.

2. Necessary relevant facts are stated hereunder to appreciate the case of the appellants and also to find out whether the appellants are entitled for the relief as prayed in this appeal.

3. The deceased, while going on his motorcycle from Vellore to Kannamangalam, collided with the bus of the respondent-Corporation as a result of which he sustained fatal injuries and died on the spot. The legal representatives of the deceased viz, his wife and two minor children filed M.C.O.P. No. 539 of 1994 contending that the accident occurred solely because of the rash and negligent driving of the bus of the respondent-Corporation. If the driver of the bus had driven the bus with carefulness, there might have been no possibility of dragging the deceased along with the motorcycle for a distant of 120 feet. The appellants- claimants claimed an amount of [pic]20 lakhs compensation for the death caused by the respondent.

The Tribunal, after considering the material evidence on record of P.W.1 and P.W. 2 and R.W.1 and the ten exhibits filed on behalf of the appellant-claimants, found that the accident has occurred only due to rash and negligent driving of the driver of the bus of the respondent-Corporation. Therefore, the learned judge, holding the monthly income at [pic]15,000/- and adopting the multiplier of 18, determined a sum of [pic]32,40,000/- as compensation. However, he restricted the sum of compensation to [pic]20,90,000/-, since that was the amount claimed by the appellants-claimants. The Tribunal further awarded interest @12% per annum on the said amount.

4. Aggrieved by the Award of the Tribunal, the respondent-Corporation filed an appeal challenging the Order of the Tribunal. The High Court, however, only restricted itself to ascertain as to whether the compensation awarded by the Tribunal was excessive. And if so, then what is the amount to which the appellants- claimants are entitled to.

5. The High Court opined that the Tribunal erred in relying upon the statement of evidence of the wife of the deceased to determine the monthly income of the deceased at [pic]15,000/- instead of relying upon the income shown in the Income Tax return. Further, the High Court opined that the Tribunal erred in not deducting 1/3rd for personal expenses of the deceased. Further, according to the High Court, the Tribunal erred in determining the multiplier of 18 instead of 13 considering the age of the deceased which was 46 at the time of the accident.

6. Accordingly, the High Court held that the unsubstantiated oral evidence alone of P.W.1 cannot be taken into consideration in the light of Exhs. A.8, A.9 and A.10. The monthly income of the deceased is therefore taken as [pic]3,115/- per month for computation of the multiplicand on the basis of net average income of the deceased calculated as per the income tax return produced as evidence on record. Therefore, the compensation determined under the head of loss of income under the head of ‘loss of income’ of the deceased was determined by the High Court at [pic]4,86,000/-. Further, the High Court has reduced compensation under the head of funeral expenses from [pic]25,000/- to [pic]10,000/-. The Tribunal awarded a consolidated amount for loss of love and affection by the children, loss of income and loss of consortium by the wife at [pic]19,55,000/-. The High Court reduced the compensation under the head of ‘loss of love and affection’ by the minor children at [pic]20,000/- each. Also, the amount awarded towards loss of consortium to the wife was reduced by the High Court to [pic]30,000/-. Therefore, in total, the High Court awarded a total amount of [pic]5,76,000/- as compensation to the appellants- c