ORDER :

1. The present appeal by the appellant-insurance company under Section 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 is directed against judgment and award dated 02nd May, 2018 passed by Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (Aux.5) at Anjar-Kutch in Motor Accident Claims Petition No. 1675 of 2015 (Old No. 11 of 2013).

2. The operative order passed by the claims tribunal reads as under:

“(1) The Claim petition is hereby partly allowed.

(2) The opponents, either jointly or severally, are hereby directed and ordered to pay the compensation of Rs. 12,88,400/- to the applicants with the proportionate cost and with the interest at the rate of 7.5% per annum from the date of accident till realization.

(3) The opponents, either jointly or severally, are hereby directed and ordered to deposit the awarded amount within 30 days from the date of this order.

(4) On deposition of the amount in the registry it is hereby directed to deduct the deficit court fees, if found anything due with the claimants.

(5) On deposition of amount, 50% amount shall be paid to the claimants by way of account payee cheque and remaining 50% amount shall be kept as Fixed Deposit Receipt in any Nationalized/Scheduled Bank of their choice of the claimant, for the period of 5 years. The claimant shall be entitled to receive monthly interest on the said Fixed Deposit Receipt. The concerned bank shall not advance any loan or enter into any transaction with regard to the said Fixed Deposit Receipt.

(6) The insurance company is free to deduct the chargeable tax as “Tax Deducted at Source” as provided U/s 194A(3)(ix) of the Income Tax Act, 1961, if the amount of interest does exceeds Rs. 50,000/- in any financial year.

(7) Award be drawn accordingly.”

3. The claimant in the claim petition filed under Section 166 of the Act, are the heirs of the deceased one Mr. Rohit Dhimant Somaiya who died in a vehicular accident which took place on 15th October, 2012 at about 2105 hours at a place described as near Gokul Company Holiday Resort on the Anjar-Galapadar Road. It was the case that due to rash and negligent driving of the vehicle Trailer bearing registration No. RJ-01-GA-2949, the deceased suffered injuries and while being taken to hospital he succumbed to the injuries. The deceased was 21 years old. First Information Report was registered in respect of the accident. The claim petition filed by the father of the victim, amount of Rs. 28,83,000/- with interest was claimed.

3.1 The Tribunal held that it was proved upon analysis of the relevant evidence that the accident had occurred due to negligent and rash driving of the driver of the offending vehicle the Trailer. Tribunal held upon considering the documentary evidence (Exh.21A) and more particularly the deposition of one Mayur Mohanlal Tank that the monthly income of the deceased at the time of accident was Rs. 7,000/-. The Tribunal thereafter added future prospective income at 40% to arrive at a figure of Rs. 9,800/-. Multiplier of 18 was adopted and after deducting personal expenses, compensation of Rs. 10,58,400/- was assessed. Thereafter added were the amounts of Rs. 15,000/- and Rs. 15,000/- and Rs. 2,00,000/- under the heads of loss of estate, funeral expenses and towards consortium respectively. Thus, the total compensation of Rs. 12,88,400/- with interest at 7.5% from the date of application till realisation came to be awarded by the Tribunal.

4. Heard learned advocate Mr. Rathin Raval for the appellant insurance company and learned advocate Mr. Hemal Shah for the original claimant.

4.1 It may be noted that since the dispute in the present appeal raised by the appellant company was with regard to the quantum of compensation only, for determination of which the principles laid down by the Supreme Court in Sarla Verma vs. Delhi Transport Corporation, (2006) 9 SCC 121 and National Insurance Company Limited vs. Pranay Sethi, (2017) 16 SCC 680 are to be applied, the other parties namely the driver and the owner, were rendered to be not ne