The main legal point established in the judgment is the proper assessment of compensation under Section 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 based on the income of the deceased and relevant legal precedents.

ORDER

1. Leave granted.

2. The challenge in the present appeal is to an order of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana dated 26.03.2019 whereby an enhanced sum of Rs.6,98,992/- was awarded to the appellants as compared to Rs.4,15,000/- awarded by Motor Accident Claims Tribunal.

3. The only issue before us is as to whether the amount of compensation awarded is the just compensation in terms of Section 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. Bhagat Singh, father of the deceased appeared as PW-1. He deposed that the deceased was earning Rs.25,000/- per month from the business of Heavy JCB Machine Earthmovers and was also a partner along with another son Devender Singh. Devender Singh has also been examined as PW-4. The appellants have produced representative of Axis Bank Ltd. as PW-3 - Vikas Sharma, who proved that the statement of account of the firm M/s. Deep Earth Movers since 01.02.2005 to October 2006. A perusal of the said statement shows that a sum of Rs.47,27,168/- was deposited and Rs.47,05,939.53 as the withdrawals. On the basis of deposits and withdrawals, it has been argued that the deceased was earning not less than Rs.25,000/- per month.

4. Mr. Mehra, learned counsel for the respondent/ Insurance Company argued that if the deceased had an income of Rs.25,000/- per month, the appellants could have produced the income tax returns as well, therefore, in the absence of best evidence, the finding recorded by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal that the deceased was earning Rs.3510/- per month cannot be said to be erroneous, which was not disputed in appeal before the High Court.

5. We have heard learned counsel for the parties and find that the basis of the findings returned by the High Court is not proper. Admittedly, the deceased was 35 years of age, and keeping in view the large amounts of deposit and the withdrawal, it cannot be said that he was a daily wager earning only Rs.3510/- per month.

6. Keeping in view the fact that the deceased was owning a heavy JCB machine and was also a partner of the firm with his brother owning another JCB machine, we deem it appropriate to assess the monthly income of the deceased as Rs.15,000/- per month. On the basis of such income, the compensation awarded is recalculated in light of the judgment of this Court reported as National Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Pranay Sethi, (2017) 16 SCC 680, as under:

7. Thus, the compensation payable is assessed as Rs. 31,74,000/-. The interest will remain at the rate of 7.5% p.a. which was awarded by the learned Motor Accident Claims Tribunal.

8. Out of the awarded amount, Rs.2,00,000/- each, along with interest, will be payable to the mother -Shanta Kumari and father - Bhagat Singh and Rs.10,00,000/-, along with interest, to the wife - Sunder Kala. The remaining amount along with interest will be payable to the children - Baby Shikha and Master Mandeep Singh in equal shares. The shares of the children shall be deposited in the Fixed Deposits, the interest of which would be payable to their mother - Sunder Kala till the children attain the age of 21 years. Liberty is given to the mother and/or the children after attaining the age of 18 years to seek withdrawal of the amount if required for education or for any other exigency which the MACT may feel justified.

9. With the above, the appeal is disposed of.