The assessment of notional income, future prospects, and various heads of compensation under the Motor Vehicles Act influenced the court's decision to modify the judgment of the Claims Tribunal.

JUDGMENT

H.T. Narendra Prasad, J. - This appeal under Section 173(1) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act', for short) has been filed by the claimants being aggrieved by the judgment dated 28.11.2017 passed by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Turuvekere in MVC No. 1400/2014.

2. Facts giving rise to the filing of the appeal briefly stated are that on 21.06.2014 at 7.00 p.m. the deceased Gangadhar @ Manjunath was proceeding on motorcycle bearing registration No. KA-06/S-5145 from Turuvekere towards Dabbeghatta near Sulekere. At that time, a tractor bearing registration No. KA-44/T-6656 which was being driven in a rash and negligent manner, came from the opposite direction came to the extreme right side of the road and dashed against the motorcycle. As a result of the aforesaid accident, the deceased sustained grievous injuries and succumbed to the injuries on 22.06.2014.

3. The claimants filed a petition under Section 166 of the Act seeking compensation for the death of the deceased along with interest.

4. On service of summons, the respondent Nos. 1 and 2 appeared through counsel and filed separate written statement in which the averments made in the petition were denied. The age, occupation and income of the deceased are denied. It was pleaded that the petition itself is false and frivolous in the eye of law. It was further pleaded that the quantum of compensation claimed by the claimants is exorbitant. Hence, they sought for dismissal of the petition.

5. On the basis of the pleadings of the parties, the Claims Tribunal framed the issues and thereafter recorded the evidence. The claimants, in order to prove their case, examined claimant No. 1 as PW-1 and another witness as PW-2 and got exhibited documents namely Ex.P1 to Ex.P16. On behalf of respondents, one witness was examined as RW-1 and got exhibited document namely Ex.R1. The Claims Tribunal, by the impugned judgment, inter alia, held that the accident took place on account of rash and negligent driving of the offending vehicle by its driver, as a result of which, the deceased sustained injuries and succumbed to the injuries. The Tribunal further held that the claimants are entitled to a compensation of Rs. 9,75,000/- along with interest at the rate of 6% p.a. and directed the Insurance Company to deposit the compensation amount along with interest. Being aggrieved, this appeal has been filed.

6. Sri Shriprad V. Shastri, the learned counsel for the claimants has raised the following contentions:

Firstly, the claimants claim that the deceased was earning Rs. 20,000/- per month by working as agriculturist and vegetable vendor. But the Tribunal is not justified in taking the monthly income of the deceased as only Rs. 6,000/-.

Secondly, as per the law laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of National Insurance Co. Ltd. vs. Pranay Sethi And Others reported in AIR 2017 SC 5157, the claimants are entitled to addition of 40% of the income towards future prospects.

Thirdly, as per the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Magma General Insurance Co. Ltd. vs. Nanu Ram reported in 2018 ACJ 2782, each of the claimants are entitled for compensation of Rs. 40,000/- under the head of 'loss of love and affection and consortium'.

Fourthly, the compensation awarded by the Tribunal under the conventional heads is on the lower side. Hence, he prays for allowing the appeal.

7. On the other hand, Sri D. Vijaya Kumar, the learned counsel for the Insurance Company has raised the following counter-contentions:

Firstly, even though the claimants claim that the deceased was earning Rs. 20,000/- per month, the same is not established by the claimants by producing documents. Therefore, the Tribunal has rightly assessed the income of the deceased notionally.

Secondly, since the claimants have not established the income of the deceased, they are not entitl