The assessment of dependency benefit in compensation cases depends on the individual circumstances, potential financial support, and cultural expectations.

( 1 ) THIS appeal under section 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 is filed by the New India Assurance Company Limited to challenge the judgment and award dated 28th March 2006 of the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (Aux.), Panchmahals at Godhra in MACP No. 1791 of 1999 awarding compensation of Rs. 3,80,000/- with proportionate costs and interest at the rate of 9 per cent per annum from the date of claim petition (17. 9. 99) upto 31. 12. 2000 and thereafter at the rate of 7. 5 per cent per annum till realization.

( 2 ) THE compensation amount is awarded to mother of deceased Marutisinh Ramsinh who was aged 25 years on the date of the accident and who was the only son of the claimants. The claim petition was filed by the parents, but during pendency of the claim petition, father of the deceased also expired leaving only mother of the deceased as the sole family member.

( 3 ) ON 30th April 1999, the deceased was working as a labourer in a tractor insured by the appellant Insurance Company. When the tractor was travelling from Dolatpur to Malekpur, on account of the rash and negligent driving of the tractor, the vehicle turned turtle and the deceased was crushed under the said vehicle. The driver and other labourers ran away from the scene of the accident. A police complaint also came to be filed against the driver at Lunavada police station.

( 4 ) 46 years old father and 42 year old mother of the deceased filed the claim petition for compensation of Rs. 4,10,000/ -. The Tribunal held that the accident was caused by the sole negligence of the tractor driver. Assessing the income of the deceased at Rs. 2,000/- per month on the date of accident and Rs. 3,000/- per month as the prospective income, the Tribunal deducted one-third amount which the deceased would have spent on himself and assessed the dependency benefit at Rs. 2,000/- per month i. e. Rs. 24,000/- per annum. Applying the multiplier of 15, compensation for loss of dependency benefit was computed at Rs. 3,60,000/- and awarding Rs. 15,000/- as the conventional amount for loss to the estate and Rs. 5,000 for funeral expenses, the Tribunal made total award of Rs. 3,80,000/- with proportionate costs and interest at the rate of 9 per cent till December 2000 and thereafter at the rate of 7. 5 per cent per annum.

( 5 ) MR. SANDIP Shah, learned counsel for the appellant Insurance Company, submits that since the deceased was 25 years old young man and was not married till the date of the accident, the Tribunal ought to have deducted two-third amount from the income of the deceased as the amount which the deceased would have spent on himself and his family after getting married and therefore the dependency benefit ought to have been assessed only at Rs. 1,000/- per month i. e. Rs. 12,000/- per annum and applying the multiplier of 15, compensation for loss of dependency benefit was required to be worked out to only Rs. 1,80,000/- as against Rs. 3,60,000/- awarded by the Tribunal. Strong reliance has been placed on the decision of the Apex Court in Donat Louis Machado v. L. Ravindra, 1999 ACJ 1400 in support of the submission that when the claimants are parents of an unmarried young man, only one-third part of the income of the deceased should be taken as the dependency benefit available to the parents as the deceased would have spent two-third on himself and his own family which he would have raised on getting married.

( 6 ) WE have carefully considered the submissions made by the learned counsel for the appellant Insurance Company and have also carefully gone through the judgment of the Apex Court heavily relied upon by the appellant Insurance Company.

( 7 ) IN the facts of the present case, the deceased was the only child of the parents who had filed the claim petition. Since father of the deceased died during the pendency of the claim petition, mother of the deceased is the only surviving member of the family. She was aged 42 years on the date of accident and about