The court emphasized the necessity of just and fair compensation under the Motor Vehicles Act, ensuring calculations reflect the deceased's income and family circumstances.

JUDGMENT :

Sandeep N. Bhatt, J.

1.1. Leave to amend the cause title - spelling of appellant No.1 is granted.

1.2. The present First Appeal, under Section 173 of Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, is preferred by the appellant/s - original claimant/s - legal heirs of the deceased - Ramayanram @ Ramayanprasad Jataram Mochi, being aggrieved and dissatisfied with the judgment and award dated 09.02.2018 passed by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (Aux.-8), Gandhidham, District : Kachchh in Motor Accident Claim Petition No.125 of 2009, by which the Tribunal has awarded compensation of Rs.6,74,800/- with 7.5% per annum interest to the claimant/s, holding Opponents No.1 to 3 i.e. driver, owner and insurance company of Trailer Dumper No.GJ-12-Z-3684 jointly and severally liable to 50% amount of compensation and opponents No.4 and 5 i.e. owner and insurance company of Dumper No.GJ-12-V-8756 are jointly and severally liable to pay 50% amount of compensation.

2. Brief facts of the case are as under:

2.1 That on 15.01.2009 on or about 12:00 p.m., the deceased - Ramayanram @ Ramayanprasad Jataram Mochi, husband of claimant No.1, father of claimant No.2 and son of claimants No.3 and 4, was coming to Gandhidham from Kandla Port by driving Dumper bearing registration No. GJ- 12-V-8756, at that time, at West Gate No.1 from Jira Point Circle, the accident had been occurred between Trailer Dumper No.GJ-12-Z-3684 driven by opponent No.1 and Dumper No.GJ-12-V-8756 driven by the deceased. Due to the accident, the deceased had sustained serious and grievous injuries and died on the spot. Therefore, the legal heirs of the deceased - widow, one minor daughter and parents have filed claim petition seeking compensation of Rs.14 lakhs with cost and interest for unnatural and untimely death against the present respondents before the Tribunal.

2.2. Notices were served to the opponents. Opponents No.1 and 2 - driver and owner of the Trailer Dumper did not appear and contest the claim petition. Opponent No.3 - insurance company of the Trailer Dumper, Opponent No.4 - owner of Dumper and Opponent No.5 - insurance company of Dumper have appeared and filed their written statements / objections at Exh.19, 36 and 33, respectively. All have denied the claim and disputed all the averments made by the claimant in the claim petition.

2.3. The Tribunal has framed the issues at Exh.37. The oral as well as documentary evidence were led by the rival parties before the Tribunal. After considering the documentary as well as oral evidence and submissions made at the bar, the Tribunal has partly allowed the claim petition by awarding compensation as noted above.

2.4. Being aggrieved and dissatisfied with the impugned judgment and award passed by the Tribunal, the present appeal is preferred by the claimant/s for enhancement.

3. Learned advocate Mr.Modi for the appellant/s - claimant/s has submitted that the Tribunal has committed an error in not properly calculating the amount of compensation. He has submitted that amount of award is on lower side as the Tribunal has not properly considered the various aspects; like prospective income of the deceased, negligence, liability and family circumstances, etc. He has submitted that the deceased was aged about only 35 years at the time of accident and was doing driving work. He has submitted that at the relevant point of time, the minimum wage as per the Minimum Wages Act was Rs.133/- per day, which comes to approximately Rs.4,000/- per month. He has fairly submitted that the learned Tribunal has rightly considered the prospective income, deduction of personal expenses looking to the age of the deceased and multiplier. He has submitted that therefore, considering the loss of dependency, it would be calculated as Rs.4,000/- as monthly income plus Rs.1,600/- as 40% prospective income minus Rs.1,400/- as personal expenses (1/4) multiplied by 12 months and multiplied by 16 multiplier would come to Rs.8,06,400/- total future loss, which should be awarded