ORDER :

Manoj Kumar Garg, J.

1. The instant civil misc. appeal under Section 173 of the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988 has been preferred by the United India Insurance Company Ltd. against the judgment and award dt. 08.01.2016 passed by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal No. 1, Udaipur (for short 'the Tribunal') in Claim Case No. 878/2014, whereby the learned Tribunal has granted compensation to the tune of Rs. 16,33,000/- in favour of the respondents/claimants.

2. Briefly stated the facts of the case are that the claimants filed a claim petition before the Tribunal with the averments that on 14.09.2014 at about 5:30-6:00 in the evening, Amrit Lal was going on his motorcycle bearing registration No. RJ-27 JS 9068 towards his house. A car, bearing registration No. RJ-27 CD 0268 came from the opposite side, which was driven rashly and negligently by its driver-Imran, hit the said motorcycle as well as the pedestrians, Raju and Kishan Lal. Due to which, Amrit Lal and Kishan Lal died and Raju sustained injuries. It is stated in the claim petition that deceased-Kishan Lal during his life time was working as Labour and was having monthly income of Rs. 9000/-. He was 24 years of age at the time accident. The claimants-respondents, who are dependent of the deceased Kishan Lal, including the minor children, claimed amount of Rs. 30,65,000/- towards different heads.

3. The respondents filed their reply to the claim petition and denied the averments made therein. On the basis of the pleadings of the parties, the learned Tribunal framed four issues. The Tribunal recorded the oral as well as documentary evidence on behalf of the claimants. The respondents did not produce any evidence in support of their case. After hearing both the parties vide its common judgment and award dated 08.01.2016 awarded a compensation of Rs. 16,33,000/- in favour of the claimants/respondents No. 1 to 6. Hence, this misc. appeal has been filed by the Insurance Company.

4. Learned counsel for the appellants submitted that the learned tribunal while awarding the quantum of compensation has wrongly taken into consideration the monthly income of the deceased as Rs. 6000/-. It is submitted that the claimants failed to produce any evidence regarding the income of the deceased and therefore, as per the Minimum Wages Act, the minimum wage i.e. Rs. 5174/-, which was prevalent in the year 2014 should have been taken into account while computing the income of the deceased. It is further stated that the deceased was not earning regular income from a stable employment having future prospects and therefore, the learned Tribunal was not justified in awarding 50% towards loss of future prospects. Learned counsel for the appellant-Insurance Company has placed reliance upon the judgment rendered in the case of New Indian Assurance Co. Ltd. Vs. Smt. Somwati & ors. [Civil Appeal No. 3093 of 2010] and connected appeals, decided on Sep. 07, 2020. It is argued that the amount of compensation awarded by the learned tribunal in favour of the claimants is excessive, which deserves to be modified accordingly.

5. Per contra, the learned counsel for the respondent-claimants opposed the submissions advanced by the counsel for the appellants and submitted that the award passed by the learned Tribunal is just and proper which does not call for any interference.

6. I have considered the submissions on behalf of the counsel for the parties and perused the impugned judgment & award dated 08.01.2016 as also material available on record.

7. In the case of Sarla Verma & ors. Vs. Delhi Transport Corporation & Anr., reported in (2009) 6 SCC 121, the Apex Court had dealt with the issue of future prospect of addition to the income, and had observed as under :-

"..... In view of the imponderables and uncertainties, we are in favour of adopting as a rule of thumb, an addition of 50% of actual salary to the actual salary i