B. K. SOMASEKHARA, J.

( 1 ) THE award of the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, Secunderabad in O. P. 475/80 dated 5-7-80 is challenged by the claimants on the ground that the amount of Rs. 10,000/- awarded by way of compensation in a claim petition filed under Section 110-A of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1939 (for short the Act) for the death of the deceased Shankar Reddy is inadequate.

( 2 ) THE claimants are the parents of the deceased Shankar Reddy who died in the Motor accident that occurred on 13-5-1978 which is found to be due to the rash and negligent driving of lorry No. MHB 7881 by its d river respondent No. 2. Respondent No. 1 is the owner of the vehicle and respondent No. 4 is the Insurer. Finding the age of the deceased at 26 years and the age of the claimants at 59 years and 49 years respectively and holding that the family of the deceased and the claimants have some agricultural land and the family never lost any thing by the death of the deceased and actually benefitted due to his death, the Tribunal fixed a notional sum of Rs. 10,000/- by way of compensation.

( 3 ) THE learned Advocate for the appellants has contended that in the first place, the Tribunal did not take the scientific multiplier method to arrive at proper compensation and secondly without evidence in the case acting merely on surmises awarded a very low sum of Rs. 10,000/ -. The learned Advocate for the respondent has tried to support the award.

( 4 ) IN a batch of claim petitions which were tried together and disposed of by means of a common judgment, the Tribunal has dealt with O. P. 475/78 in question separately for assessing the compensation. It was found from the evidence that the claimants and the deceased belong to an agricultural family wherein the deceased was assisting his parents in the agricultural work. The evidence was sought for the claimants stand that the deceased was educated up to Xth Standard. The Tribunal recorded the reasoning in support of his finding as follows:-"in the normal circumstances when the family is having immovable property from which the family is getting income there will not be much assistance by one member to the other though any assistance in managing the properties will enure for the entire family. The education record is not produced to prove his age or to what extent he studied and when he completed his studies. He is said to have completed 10th Class only one year ago but his age is mentioned as 26 years which appears to be unacceptable. Considering that by the acceleration of the succession due to the death of the deceased the petitioners have (been) benefitted and also considering that they are already sufficiently aged and the assistance if any they have from their son would be only for a short period and also as there is no possibility of estimating the financial assistance they would have got from the services of the deceased son I feel a compensation of rs. 10,000/- will be a reasonable compensation in this case considering the status of the family. "on the face of it, the reasoning of the Tribunal is cynical and unsocialistic and inhuman in the approach of the matter. The reasoning borders more than a surmise or a conjecture or even an imagination. It must be presumed that all human beings are good and the conduct of all children towards their parents is good. It is the contrary which should be established from the circumstances. A member in an agricultural family assists in the agricultural operations and the management of the family in one way or the other. Even at the worst his contribution to the family through his labour equivalent to an agricultural labourer cannot be ignored. The benefit to the family due to the death of the deceased in the succession of the share of the deceased in the properties is a wild imagination of the Tribunal. It cannot be forgotten mat the family would have got the benefit even in case of natural death. When such a death is accelerated due to the indiscriminate act of

Click Here to Read the rest of this document