The main legal point established in the judgment is the relevance of notional income in determining compensation under the Motor Vehicles Act and the clarification that compensation payable under the Act is statutory and not subject to deduction based on other pecuniary advantages received by the heirs.

Shri Sunil Kumar Sinha, J. :-

1. Appellants/Claimants have filed this appeal under Section 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) against the award dated 4th of September, 1999 passed by the 6th Additional Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Raipur in Claim Case No.7 /99, whereby, their Claim Petition, filed under Section 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act, was dismissed by the Tribunal.

2. The appellants are the widow and sons of the deceased-Phool Singh, who died in the motor accident on 5.12.1998 when his bicycle was dashed by the vehicle, Matador bearing registration No. MP 23 D-A/0617. The appellants pleaded that the accident occurred on account of rash and negligent driving of the . Matador by its driver. They further pleaded that the deceased was aged about 63 years. He was a retired Gram Sahayak and was earning Rs.2,800/- per month by giving tuitions in the village. They claimed compensation of Rs. 7 ,39,000/-.

3. The owner and the driver pleaded that the accident occurred on account of negligence of the deceased himself as the deceased dashed his bicycle from the Matador, which was coming from the opposite direction. The Insurer admitted the factum of the insurance, however, it denied the other pleading of the appellants.

4. The appellants examined Rania Bai (A W -1), Shyamlal Sahu (A W -2) and Ballu Gendre (A W-3) in support of their Claim Petition, whereas, the nonapplicants did not examine any witness in rebuttal.

5. Learned Claims Tribunal recorded a finding that the appellants/claimants could not establish that the accident occurred on account of rash and negligent driving of the offending vehicle by its driver. The appellants also could not establish that the deceased was earning some amount after his retirement. It further recorded a finding that after the death of the deceased, who was a retired employee, his widow must be getting some pension, therefore, the appellants were not entitled to any compensation on account of death of the deceased in motor accident and their Claim Petition was dismissed.

6. Mr. Malay Kumar Bhaduri, learned counsel for the appellants, argued that the Tribunal erred in law in recording a finding that the appellants could not establish that the accident occurred on account of rash and negligent driving of the offending vehicle by its driver. He also argued that even if there was no clinching evidence about income of the deceased, the Tribunal should have gone through the notional income and have determined the loss of dependency. About the family pension, he argued that it was a contribution in terms of service conditions, which the heirs of the employee were bound to receive. On this count, the appellants cannot be deprived of compensation which they can get according to the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act. He referred to the decision of the Apex Court rendered in the matter of Mrs. Helen C. Rebello and others Vs. Maharashtra State Road Transport Corpn. and another.

7. On the other hand, Mr. AX. Athaley, learned counsel for the Insurance Company, opposed these arguments and supported the award passed by the Claims Tribunal.

8. We have heard the learned counsel for the parties at length and have also perused the records of the Claims Case.

9. Ballu Gendre (A W - 3) has been examined on the point of accident. He deposed that "On the fateful day at about 6-6.30 p.m., he was going along with the deceased on his bicycle from zeropoint to Barouda. Deceased- Phool Singh was driving the bicycle and he was sitting as a pillion rider. When they saw that a Matador is coming from opposite direction, Phool Singh asked him to get down from the bicycle, he got down from the bicycle and as soon as Phool Singh went ahead to a distance of 5-6 ft., the Matador dashed his bicycle. Phool Singh fell down in injured condition. He was taken to the Medical 'College Hospital, Raipur, where he died in the morning". In the cross examination by non-applicants No.1 & 2, he had denied