The main legal point established in the judgment is the determination of fair compensation in a motor accident claim case, considering the deceased's income, deduction towards personal and living expenses, and the applicable interest rate.

JUDGMENT :

1. Heard, learned counsel for the appellants, Mr. Prodipto Mitra and learned counsel for the respondent, Mr. Chandrajit Mukherjee.

2. The appeal has been preferred by the claimants namely, (1) Ramsheela Devi, wife of Late Arvind Kumar Singh, (2) Sujit Kumar Singh, son of Late Arvind Kumar Singh and (3) Vivek Kumar Singh, son of Late Arvind Kumar Singh for enhancement of the award dated 04.07.2020 passed by learned District Judge-III, Jamshedpur in Motor Accident Claim Case No. 190/2018, whereby the claimants have been awarded compensation to the tune of Rs. 6,05,000/-along with interest @ 6% per annum from the date of filing of the claim application till the payment.

3. Learned counsel for the appellants has assailed the impugned award on the ground that income of the deceased has been taken on the lower side to the tune of Rs. 4500/-per month, not as per Exhibit-4, which is salary certificate of the deceased showing salary of the deceased as Rs. 13,500/-.

4. Learned counsel for the appellants has submitted that the learned Tribunal has not considered Exhibit-4 and did not rely upon it, on the ground that, the applicant has not filed any role or register showing that the deceased was regularly employee working as Teacher in Madhya Vidalaya, Jadugora. The Tribunal has considered that the attendance register or identification card, issued by School has not been proved. The applicant has not proved any document to show that the deceased was a regular employee of the said School and Salary Certificate, which has been brought on record as Exhibit4, shows that wife of the deceased Ramsheela Devi has received the salary slip issued by the Secretary, Madhya Vidalaya, Jadugora on 10.01.2011, though the occurrence was of dated 04.01.2011.

5. Learned counsel for the appellants has submitted that the learned Apex Court in the case of Chameli Devi & Others Vs. Jivrail Mian & Others reported in 2019 (4) TAC 724 (SC), has considered the income of a Carpenter, in absence of any documentary evidence, to be Rs. 5,000/-, who lost his life on 02.01.2001, whereas the present case is of dated 04.01.2011, as such in any view of the matter, the income of the deceased cannot be less than Rs. 9000/-as the deceased was educated person working as Teacher.

6. Learned counsel for the appellants has submitted that deduction has been wrongly made contrary to the judgment passed by the Apex Court in the case of Sarla Verma (Smt.) & Ors Vs. Delhi Transport Corporation & Anr. reported in (2009) 6 SCC 121 (Para-30), as the deceased left behind four dependents at the time of death, which will be apparent from the claim application preferred by the claimants, but during pendency of the claim application, the mother of the deceased namely, Dhaneshwari Devi died and her name has been expunged / deleted on 27.11.2019, as such, it was incumbent upon the learned Tribunal to deduct 1/4th towards personal and living expenses of the deceased instead of 1/3rd, considering liability of the deceased at the time of death.

7. Learned counsel for the appellants has further submitted that interest has been awarded @ 6% per annum, which ought to have been @ 7.5% in view of the judgment passed by the Apex Court in the case of Dharampal and Sons Vs. U.P. State Road Transport Corporation reported in 2008 (4) JCR 79 (SC).

8. Learned counsel for the appellants has submitted that the offending vehicle was not insured. The offending vehicle i.e. Bajaj Boxer Kawasaki Motorcycle bearing registration no. JH-01C-0291 is standing in the name of Puran Chandra Swasi, Son of Maheshwar Swashi, an employee of UCL, Jadugora, resident of A-64/506, UCL Colony, Jadugora, P.O. & P.S. – Jadugora, District – East Singhbhum, but after a great effort, compensation under Section 140 of the Motor Vehicles Act to the tune of Rs. 50,000/-has been executed through the employer of Puran Chandra Swasi