The court emphasized the assessment of the deceased's income, the deduction for personal expenses, and the impact of the deceased's death on the widow in determining the compensation.

SANJAY VASHISTH, J.

1. The present appeal has been filed by the appellant/petitioner/claimant (hereinafter referred as ‘claimant’) in MACT Case No. 62 of 2005, dated 19.04.2005, for modification of award dated 28.02.2007, passed by Ld. Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, Karnal (hereinafter referred to as ‘Ld. Tribunal’) by way of seeking enhancement of amount of compensation, on account of death of deceased - Sarwan Kumar.

2. There was only one claimant in the MACT case that is Smt. Daya alias Dayawanti, who is widow of the deceased – Sarwan Kumar. In the present appeal before this Court, she is seeking enhancement of compensation awarded by Ld. Tribunal on account of death of her husband Sarwan Kumar in a motor vehicular accident.

3. Briefly stated facts of the case are that on 10.01.2005, at 05:00 p.m., deceased left for Delhi in his truck bearing No. HR-38-BG-5027 from Punjab. Near brick kiln of village Sambli on Dhand to Karnal Road, at about 09:00 p.m., one canter bearing registration No. HR-64-0903 coming on the left side of the road dashed into the truck of the deceased. Sarwan Kumar died on the spot. It was contended that the said canter was being driven in a rash and negligent manner.

4. Claimant filed a claim petition under Section 166 and Section 140 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 for seeking compensation of Rs.20,00,000/- on account of death of her husband in the motor vehicular accident. However, after going through the record, appreciating the evidences, examining the witnesses and hearing the arguments of both the sides, Ld. Tribunal assessed the age of the deceased as 49 years and 8 months, his monthly income as Rs.3,500/-, deducted 1/3rd on account of his personal expenses, applied the multiplier of 13, granted Rs.5,000/- as spousal consortium, Rs.10,000/- as funeral expenses and accordingly, awarded total compensation to the claimant to the tune of Rs.3,79,000/- payable by respondents severally and jointly with interest @7.5% per annum from the date of filing of the petition till its actual realization.

Appellant/Petitioner/Claimant has filed the present petition, seeking enhancement of the compensation as awarded by the Ld. Tribunal.

5. While addressing arguments, Counsel for the appellants submits that the Ld. Tribunal has erred in determining the monthly salary of the deceased - Sarwan Kumar; failed to enhance the income on account of future prospects; has deducted personal expenses on the higher side and failed to grant any compensation on account of loss of estate.

6. On the other hand, Ld. Counsel for Respondent No.3 – Insurance Company, submits that the Ld. Tribunal has rightly determined the monthly salary of the deceased as per prevailing wages of labourers at the time of accident and there is no need to interfere in the amount of compensation awarded by the Ld. Tribunal.

7. This Court is of the view that income of the deceased who was a truck driver should have been assessed in accordance with the DC rates prevalent at the time of the accident which were Rs. 5,812.75/- per month as on date of accident i.e. 10.01.2005.

8. Learned counsel for the appellant/claimant vehemently argues that in view of the law laid by the Hon’ble Apex Court in Smt. Sarla Verma and others v. Delhi Transport Corporation and another, 2009(3) RCR (Civil) 77 : Law Finder Doc ID #188882 , there being only one dependent of the deceased that is widow of the deceased, a deduction of half (1/2) on account of personal expenses of the deceased should be made. This court has thoroughly examined the verdict of the Hon’ble Apex Court in the aforementioned 'Sarla Verma' case (supra) and observes that there is no explicit indication regarding the deduction to be applied in instances where the deceased was married and has only one dependent. Thus, in such circumstances, it is the discretion of the court to apply the deduction according to the peculiar