The court established that compensation calculations must consider accurate income assessments and appropriate deductions based on the deceased's family circumstances.

JUDGMENT :

Narendra Singh Dhaddha, J.

1. The present appeal under Section 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 has been preferred by the claimants-appellants (for short ‘the claimants’) disatisfied with the judgment and award dated 03.11.2018 passed by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal Dudu, Jaipur (for short ‘the Tribunal’) in Claim Case No.316/2018, (205/2013) titled as Smt. Badami Devi and Ors. versus Gopal Lal and Anr. whereby the Tribunal has awarded a sum of Rs.6,37,000/- along with interest @ 6% per annum from the date of filing the claim petition as compensation in favour of the claimants.

2. Learned counsel for the claimants submits that the Tribunal had erred in assessing the income of the deceased as Rs.4,500/-per month. As per statement of claimants, deceased was getting salary of Rs.12,000/- per month by working as Sub contractor in M/s Ghosalya Construction Company Nasirabad. The said statement was uncontroverted during the trial, so, income of the deceased be calculated as Rs.12,000/- per month. Learned counsel for the claimants also submits that Tribunal wrongly deducted 1/2th amount towards personal expenses of deceased. Deceased was a married man and having two dependants. So, deduction towards the personal expenses should be 1/3rd instead of 1/2th. Learned counsel for the claimants also submits that the Tribunal has awarded only Rs.40,000/- towards loss of consortium and love and affection, whereas it should be Rs.40,000/- for each claimant. So, judgment and award of the Tribunal be modified accordingly.

3. Learned counsel for the RSRTC has opposed the arguments advanced by learned counsel for the claimants and submitted that the claimants failed to adduce any cogent evidence that the deceased was earning Rs.12,000/- per month. So, the Tribunal rightly calculated the income of the deceased as Rs.4500/-. The Tribunal rightly deducted 1/2th amount towards personal expenses of the deceased. So, appeal be dismissed.

4. I have considered the arguments advanced by learned counsel for the claimants as well as learned counsel for the RSRTC.

5. It is an admitted position that the claimants failed to adduce any cogent evidence that the deceased was getting Rs.12,000/-per month as salary by working as Sub contractor in M/s Ghosalya Construction Company Nasirabad. At the relevant point of time, minimum wages for an unskilled labour were Rs.166/- per day, which comes to Rs.4980/- per month. In my considered opinion, the tribunal had committed an error in assessing the income of the deceased as Rs.4,500/-. The Tribunal has wrongly deducted 1/2th amount towards the personal expenses of the deceased. As per the dependency and marital status of the deceased, deduction towards the personal expenses should be 1/3rd. The Tribunal had wrongly awarded lump sum amount of Rs.40,000/- towards loss of consortium and love and affection, whereas it should be Rs.40,000/- for each claimant. So, judgment and award of the Tribunal is modified to the extent as under:-

6. In view of the above, the claimants are entitled to get a further sum of Rs.3,09,640/- as compensation. RSRTC is directed to deposit enhanced amount of Rs.3,09,640/- (Rs.9,46,640– Rs.6,37,000/-) with the Tribunal within a period of two months from the date of receipt of certified copy of this order. On deposition of the said amount, the claimants shall be entitled