The main legal point established in the judgment is the liability of the insurer to pay the awarded compensation and the assessment of notional income and future prospects of the deceased under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.

1. The above captioned two appeals are directed against Award of 30th January, 2016 vide which compensation of Rs.13,05,000/- with interest @ 12% per annum has been awarded to Claimants, who are the parents of Javeria Mahmood, who had died in a vehicular accident on 23rd September, 2011.

2. In the above captioned first appeal, appellant-Claimant seeks enhancement of compensation granted, whereas in the above captioned second appeal, owner of the offending vehicle seek exoneration from paying the compensation granted by the Tribunal. Since these two appeals arise out of common impugned Award of 30th January, 2016, therefore, both these appeals have been heard together and are being decided by this common judgment. The facts as noted in impugned Award are as under:-

“The facts in brief as set up by the Petitioners in their Petition are that on 23.09.2011 at about 5.10 PM, deceased Ms. Javeria Mahmood was returning from college on her scooty. As she reached at Pushta Road towards Laxmi Nagar, a vehicle make Mahindra Champion (open body LGV) bearing registration number DL-1LH-8821 (hereinafter referred to as offending vehicle), driven by its driver at a high speed and in a negligent manner hit the scooty from behind and ran over the deceased. The deceased was crushed under the wheels. She was taken to Walia Nursing Home from where she was referred to LBS Hospital. However, she succumbed to her injuries. A case u/s 279/304A IPC was registered vide FIR No. 690/11 at Police Station Shakarpur against the respondent no. 1.”

3. The Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Tribunal’) has relied upon the evidence of father of deceased and the other evidence on record, to award the compensation as noticed hereinabove. Deceased- Javeria Mahmood was aged 17 years on the day of this vehicular accident and as per evidence of her father-Mahmood Ali Khan (PW-1), she was a student. The Tribunal has calculated the “loss of dependency” while taking notional income of deceased at Rs.20,000/- p.m. and after deducting 50% towards “personal expenses” and by applying multiplier of 9, “loss of dependency” has been assessed at Rs.10,80,000/-. Compensation of Rs.1,00,000/- has been awarded under the head of ‘Loss of love and affection’ and ‘Funeral Expenses’ of Rs.25,000/- have been granted by the Tribunal. Under the head ‘Loss of Estate’ Rs.1,00,000/- has been granted. The break-up of compensation awarded by the Tribunal to the Claimants is as under:-      

4. The Tribunal vide impugned Award has directed M/S United India Insurance Company Limited (henceforth referred to as the “Insurer”) to pay the awarded compensation to mother of deceased, with right to recover it from driver and owner of the insured vehicle.

5. The challenge to the impugned Award by learned counsel for Claimant/ legal heir of deceased is on the ground that the applicable multiplier has to be according to the age of deceased and not as per the age of Claimant, and the Tribunal has erred in not doing so. It is next submitted by counsel for Claimant that denial of interest w.e.f. 14th April, 2014 is unjustified in view of order of order of 3rd February, 2015 in CM(M) 93/2015 Mahmood Ali Khan & Anr. Vs. Arun Kumar Singh & Ors. It is further submitted that deceased- Javeria Mahmood was a student, who was pursing B.A.LLB and was in 1st Semester and had a bright future ahead and the Tribunal has erred in not granting compensation towards ‘future prospects’. Lastly, it is submitted that the compensation awarded by the Tribunal be suitably enhanced.

6. The stand taken by counsel for Owner of the insured vehicle is that the Tribunal has erred in granting recove