The dependency of a claimant under Section 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act is determined with reference to the pecuniary loss suffered by the claimant and not the love and affection.

G.C.Garg, J.

1. Raj Pali and Badan Singh, mother and the father respectively of the appellants were going on a Moped in the morning of 22.6.1991. A four-wheeler being driven by respondent Raj Kumar hit the said Moped. Raj Pali and Badan Singh fell on the ground, sustained multiple injuries and died due to the injuries suffered in the accident. Two separate claim petitions, being MACT Cases 103 and 104 of 1991, under Section 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act were filed by their three sons and two daughters claiming compensation for the death of their mother and father respectively. The two claim petitions were disposed by the learned Tribunal by one order dated 9.3.1992.

2. Learned Tribunal on a consideration of the matter came to the conclusion that the two daughters were married and residing with their husbands and their in-laws. Learned Tribunal further came to the conclusion that they may have a claim for a share under the Hindu Succession Act being Class-I heirs of a Hindu dying intestate but being married, they cannot be said to be legal representatives/dependents on the deceased as they are dependent on their respective husbands after marriage. Learned Tribunal after further observing that the dependency is with reference to the pecuniary loss and not the love and affection, held that the two daughters, claimants 4 and 5 in the two claim petitions were not the dependents either on their mother or on their father.

3. As regards the compensation for the death of Raj Pali, learned Tribunal came to the conclusion that she was not less than 60 years of age at the time of death and she might have been rendering services to her three sons and on her death the three sons may have to engage some lady to render services to them and remuneration for this job to another lady engaged can safely be put at Rs. 400/- per month. Learned Tribunal having regard to the facts and circumstances of the case determined the dependency of the claimants on their mother Raj Pali at Rs. 400/- i.e Rs. 4800/- per year or to say, Rs. 5000/- and applying a multiplier of 8, awarded a sum of Rs. 40,000/-. As regards the compensation for the death of Badan Singh, learned Tribunal came to the conclusion that Badan Singh on the date of the accident was having an income of Rs. 1566/- by way of his pension which he was getting being a retired teacher from Govt. Service. Learned Tribunal, however, deducting a sum of Rs. 566/- on account of personal expenses, assessed the dependency of the three sons on their father Badan Singh at Rs. 1000/- i.e. Rs. 12,000/- per annum. Learned Tribunal applied a multiplier of five and thus awarded a compensation of Rs. 60,000/- for the death of Badan Singh.

4. Dissatisfied with the quantum of compensation, the claimants have filed these appeals seeking enhancement of compensation.

5. As regards compensation for the death of Raj Pali, learned Tribunal came to the conclusion that the three sons might be dependent on their mother for her services to them i.e. cooking of food and cleaning the house etc. and such services may be available by engaging another lady at Rs. 400/- per month. Learned Tribunal thus calculated the amount of compensation by taking this figure. On a consideration of the matter, I am of the opinion that the dependency on this count assessed by the learned Tribunal is on the lower side. Besides cooking and cleaning of the house, there are still other jobs which are done by a woman of the age of Raj Pali in the capacity of a mother. In the absence of their mother, the claimants may have to employ a female or male servant to look after the house. Thus taking this into consideration, I am of the opinion that the claimants must be spending a sum of Rs. 500/- per month on all counts which were being attended to by their mother during her life time before death. I thus assess the dependency of the claimants on their mother at Rs. 500/- per month i.e. Rs. 6000/- per year. The multiplier of eight applied by the Tri