The main legal point established in the judgment is the application of legal principles under the Motor Vehicles Act 1988, particularly Section 163A, to determine compensation for the death of a child in a motor vehicular accident.

JUDGMENT :

ARCHANA PURI, J.

1. The present appeal has been filed by the appellants-claimants, thereby, seeking enhancement of the compensation, so awarded by learned Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, on account of death of their son Vikram, aged 9 years, in a motor vehicular accident, which took place on 17.08.2000.

2. On appraisal of the evidence brought on record, learned Tribunal had granted compensation, to the extent of Rs.70,000/- along with interest @9% per annum.

3. Being dissatisfied with the awarded amount, the appellants claimants have filed the present appeal for seeking enhancement of the compensation, vis-a-vis death of their son Vikram, in the accident in question.

4. So far as the fact of accident and manner of its taking place, as well as liability fastened upon the driver, owner and insurer of the offending vehicle, to be joint and several are concerned, it is pertinent to mention that no appeal has been filed by the persons, so made liable to challenge the Award and thus, findings so recorded by learned Tribunal have attained finality.

5. In this backdrop, learned counsel for the appellants-claimants has submitted that compensation granted, on account of death of their son Vikram, in the accident, is meagre, which calls for extensive enhancement.

6. On the other hand, learned counsel for the Insurance company has refuted the claim of the appellants-claimants, while asserting that no satisfactory evidence has been led to seek compensation, as now impressed upon and thus, he submits that the appeal sans merit and deserves to be dismissed.

7. At the very outset, it is pertinent to mention that deceased Vikram was 9 years old, who was asserted to be student of 3rd Class, but however, PW-1 Parkash, his father, while deposing in the witness box has stated about his son to be student of 1st Class. Learned Tribunal had awarded an amount of Rs.65,000/- in lumpsum as compensation and further amount of Rs.5,000/- has been granted, on account of performance of last rites and transportation etc. In total, Rs.70,000/- has been granted as compensation. However, it should be noted that no reason, as such, has been assigned for assessing the lumpsum amount.

8. It is pertinent to mention that Hon'ble Supreme Court in case titled as 'Kishan Gopal and another v/s Lala and others, 2013(4) RCR (Civil) 276', while considering the death of a child, aged 10 years took the notional income of the deceased as Rs.30,000/- and applied multiplier of 15' and compensation came to be Rs.4.5 lakh. Another Rs.50,000/- was given towards love, affection, funeral expenses and last rites. The accident in that case, related to the year 1992.

9. Even, Hon'ble Supreme Court in case titled as “Kurvan Ansari alias Kurvan Ali and another v/s Shyam Kishore Murmu and another, Civil Appeal No.6902 of 2021 decided on 16.11.2021” considered the case of death of 7 years old child, in a motor vehicular accident, which took place in the year 2004 and made certain observations, which are as under:-

“11. As the claim was made under Section 163-A of the Motor Vehicles Act 1988, since the deceased child was not an earning member, the Tribunal has considered notional income as per Schedule–II for the purpose of fixing compensation. The Tribunal has awarded compensation by taking notional income of the deceased at Rs.15,000/- per annum by applying multiplier ‘15’, awarded compensation of Rs.2,25,000/- towards loss of dependency with interest @ 6% per annum from the date of judgment. When the appeals are preferred by the Insurance Company as well as the appellants herein, by the impugned common judgment, the High Court has dismissed the appeal preferred by the Insurance Company, and in the appeal preferred by the claimants, while confirming the compensation awarded for loss of dependency at Rs.2,25,000/-, has awarded a further sum of Rs.15,000/- towards funeral expenses and accordingly granted a total compensation of Rs.2,40,000/- with interest @6% per annum payable by respondent