IMPORTANT POINTS
Three persons riding the bike may be violation of section 128 but cannot be said to cause contributory negligence.
Monthly income of the deceased as found by the trial court should be accepted.
For deciding multiplier Sarla Verma should be followed.

JUDGMENT

V. Ramasubramanian, J.

1. Leave granted.

2. Aggrieved by the order of the High Court reducing the compensation awarded by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal from the sum of Rs.11,66,800/­ to Rs.4,14,000/­, the parents of the deceased­accident victim have come up with the above appeal.

3. We have heard the learned counsel for the appellants and the learned counsel for the Insurance Company.

4. Admittedly, the son of the appellants who was aged about 23 years, died on 7.09.2008 as a result of the injuries sustained in a road traffic accident that took place on 5.09.2008. It appears that the victim was one of the 2 pillion riders on a motor cycle and he was thrown off the vehicle when a car hit the motor cycle from behind. The Motor Accident Claims Tribunal found that the accident was caused due to the rash and negligent driving of the car. This finding was confirmed by the High Court, though with a rider that the victim was also guilty of contributory negligence, in as much as there were 3 persons on the motor cycle at the time of the accident, requiring a reduction of 10% of the compensation awarded.

5. On the question of quantum of compensation, the appellants claimed that their son was aged 23 years at the time of the accident and that he was employed in a proprietary concern on a monthly salary of Rs.9600/­. The employer was examined as PW­2 and the certificate issued by him was marked as Ex.P­1/8. Finding no reason to disbelieve the testimony of PW­2, the Tribunal applied a multiplier of 18 and arrived at a sum of Rs.10,36,800/­ towards loss of dependency, after deducting 50% of the salary towards personal expenses, as the deceased victim was a bachelor. In addition, the Tribunal also allowed a sum of Rs.1,00,000/­ for loss of love and affection; Rs.20,000/­ for the performance of last rites and Rs.10,000/­ towards loss of Estate. Accordingly, the Tribunal arrived at an amount of Rs.11,66,800/­ as the total compensation payable.

6. As against the said award, the Insurance Company filed a statutory appeal under Section 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. The appeal was primarily on two grounds namely (i) that the deceased was guilty of contributory negligence inasmuch as he was riding on the pillion of the motor cycle with two other persons and (ii) that the employment and income of the deceased were not satisfactorily established.

7. On the first ground, the High Court held that though the motor cycle in which the deceased victim was riding was hit by the speeding car from behind, the deceased was also guilty of contributory negligence, as he was riding a motor cycle with two other persons. Therefore, the High Court came to the conclusion that an amount equivalent to 10% has to be deducted towards contributory negligence.

8. On the second issue, the High Court held that the employer did not produce any records to substantiate the quantum of salary paid to the deceased and that therefore the income of the deceased may have to be assessed only on the basis of minimum wages, payable to unskilled workers at the relevant point of time. Accordingly the High Court fixed the income of the deceased at the time of the accident as Rs.3683/­ per month, which was the minimum wages for unskilled workers at that time.

9. Insofar as the issue of multiplier is concerned, the High Court applied the multiplier of 14 instead of the multiplier of 18, on the basis of the ratio laid down by this Court in UPSRTC Vs. Trilok Chandra, (1996) 4 SCC 362 to the effect that the choice of the multiplier should go by the age of the deceased or that of the claimants, whichever is higher. As a result, the High Court took Rs.3,683/­ as the monthly income, allowed a deduction of 50% on the same towards personal expenses, applied a multiplier of 14 and arrived at an amount of Rs.3,10,000/­. The award of Rs.1,00,000/­ towards loss of love and affection granted by the Tribunal was confirmed by the High Court but the amount of Rs.10,000/­ each awarded towards fune