JUDGMENT :

Heard Mr. S.P. Choudhury, learned counsel representing the appellants as well as Ms. M. Choudhury, learned counsel appearing for the respondent.

2. This is an appeal under Section 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 against the judgment dated 20.05.2016 passed by the learned Member, Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Jorhat in MAC Case No.45/2013.

3. The factual matrix leading to filing of this appeal lies within a short campus. The claimant exhibited income tax returns of the deceased. In spite of that, the Tribunal did not rely upon those documents and notionally held the income of the deceased to be Rs.10,000/- per month.

4. In order to buttress his point, Mr. Choudhury has relied upon a decision of the Supreme Court delivered in Smt. Anjali and Ors. Vs. Lokendra Rathod & Ors., reported in AIR 2023 SC 44. Paragraph 9 of the judgment is quoted as under :

“9. The Tribunal and the High Court both committed grave error while estimating the deceased’s income by disregarding the Income Tax Return of the Deceased. The appellants had filed the Income Tax Return (2009-2010) of the deceased, which reflects the deceased’s annual income to be Rs.1,18,261/-, approx. Rs.9,855/- per month.