Hon'ble Dr. SHARMA, J.— Leave granted.

2. Since both these appeals arise out of the same set of facts and involve similar questions of law, we propose to dispose of both these appeals by this common judgment.

3. The present appeals arise out of a motor accident claim. The claimant No. 1 and 2 are the wife and son respectively of the deceased-Ramappa. On 09.09.2000, the deceased was traveling on Hero Honda Motor Cycle, which he borrowed from its real owner for going from Ilkal to his native place Gudur. When the said motor cycle was proceeding on Ilkal-Kustagl, National Highway, a bullock cart proceeding ahead of the said motor cycle carrying iron-sheet suddenly stopped and consequently deceased-Ramappa who was proceeding on the said motor cycle dashed against it. Consequent to the aforesaid incident, he sustained fatal injuries over his vital part of body and on the way to Govt. Hospital, Ilkal, he died. The doctor of the general hospital, Ilkal conducted post mortem examination over dead body of the deceased and gave his opinion that the death of the deceased was caused due to hemorrhage and shock due to the injury to his liver. The aforesaid motor cycle in which the deceased was traveling at the time of accident was insured with the Insurance Company, namely, the United India Insurance Co. Ltd. and the said motor cycle was owned by one Paranagouda.

4. On 04.10.2000 Appellant No. 1, the wife of the deceased and Appellant No. 2 – minor son of the deceased filed a claim petition under Section 163-A of Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (in short ‘the MVA’) before the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal No. VI, Bijapur, Karnataka (in short ‘the Tribunal’) being M.V.C. No. 896/2000 praying for compensation of Rs. 8,10,000/- along with future interest etc. on the ground that at the time of accident the deceased was a healthy person, aged about 32 years and engaged in agriculture, earning Rs. 5,000/- per month and was the sole earning member in their family.

5. The Tribunal received evidence and tested the claim. The Tribunal held that in absence of definite and cogent proof of income, the income of the deceased was to be considered as Rs. 60/- per day as per the provisions of the Minimum Wages Act. Accordingly, the monthly income of the deceased was ascertained as Rs. 1,800/- and yearly income as Rs. 21,600/-from which 1/3 was to be deducted leaving thereby Rs. 14,400/-as the net income of the deceased. Since the age of the deceased was found to be in between 30 to 35 years, the relevant multiplier to be applied was ‘17’.

6. Accordingly, the Tribunal under its award dated 09.02.2005 partly allowed the claim petition filed by the appellants holding that the said appellants are entitled to receive a total compensation amount of Rs. 2,59,800/- along with interest at the rate of 8% p.a. from the respondent – Insurance Company. It is required to be stated at this stage that compensation as determined by the Tribunal was paid and received by the legal representatives of the deceased, namely the widow and the minor son.

7. Aggrieved by the said decision, the Insurance Company preferred an appeal being Miscellaneous First Appeal No. 4152/2005 before the High Court of Karnataka on the ground that the accident occurred due to the fault of the deceased and claim petition before the Tribunal was not maintainable as Section 163-A of the Act is not applicable unless there was another vehicle involved in the accident. The other ground of challenge was that the Tribunal erred in allowing the claim petition when the total income of the deceased was stated to be more than Rs. 40, 000/- per annum.

8. The High Court by its judgment and order dated 08.08.2007 allowed the appeal holding that the claim petition before the Tribunal was not maintainable as there was no tort-feasor involved. It was also held that the claim Section 163-A of the Act was barred when the income of the claimant is stated to be above Rs. 40,000/- per annum. Consequently, the High Court set aside the

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