Judgment

Mr. Harpreet Singh Brar, J.

The above referred two appeals have arisen out of a common award dated 14.07.2016 passed by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Chandigarh (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Tribunal’ for short) and the same are being disposed of by this common judgment.

2. The case bearing FAO No.6455 of 2016 has been filed by the Insurance Company for setting aside the aforesaid award of the Tribunal whereas FAO No.344 of 2017 has been filed by the claimants seeking enhancement of compensation awarded to them.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

3. Facts are being taken from FAO-6455-2016 for ready reference:-

4. Succinctly, the facts of the case are that on 20.04.2015, Harjit Singh Dhandi (since deceased) had visited his native place i.e. Village Tasoli for filling sand at his ancestral home for which purpose he had asked for a tractor-trolley from his friend namely Prem Singh (respondent No.6) to lift sand from his fields. Since Prem Singh was unwell, he sent Swaran Singh-respondent No.4 to lift the sand. At about 10:30 A.M., Swaran Singh was reversing the tractor-trolley to dump the laden sand in the house of the deceased in a rash and negligent manner and at a fast speed. The persons present at the spot objected to his driving in such a rash manner but he did not pay any heed and struck his tractor-trolley against Harjit Singh who was standing on the side of the gate of his house. Due to the impact, Harjit Singh sustained multiple grievous injuries. After the incident, Swaran Singh fled from the scene along with the tractor-trolley. Harjit Singh was taken to PGIMER, Chandigarh in a private vehicle by Amrinder Singh and Jasvir Singh where he was declared dead.

5. Deceased Harjit Singh was 40 years of age at the time of his death. He was the director of M/s Dhandi Builders Ltd., having its registered office at Chandigarh and was getting a monthly salary of Rs.52,000/- along with Rs. 10,000/- as conveyance allowance and Rs. 20,000/- from the investments made by him in the company. As such, the deceased was claimed to have been earning Rs. 82,000/- per month and was an income tax payee.

6. Taking into account the income tax returns filed by the deceased, the Tribunal assessed his income at Rs. 25,000/- per month. Keeping in view the age of the deceased to be more than 40 years but below 41 years, an addition of 30% was made in his income. Thus, the annual income of the deceased was assessed at Rs. 4,00,008/-. One third of the total income was deducted towards his personal expenses and a multiplier of ‘15’ was applied. In this way, the total amount of compensation, including both pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages, of Rs. 41,75,080/- was awarded to the appellant/claimants in this claim petition along with interest of 9% per annum from the date of accident i.e. 20.04.2015 to be paid by the appellant-Insurance Company. It was further directed that in case the insurance company paid the amount within a period of one month, then interest at the rate of 7.5% per annum would accrue.

CONTENTIONS

7. Learned counsel for the Insurance Company has vigorously assailed the impugned award on the ground that the driver of the offending vehicle was not holding any valid license to drive the said vehicle or even a Light Motor Vehicle(LMV). He was driving a tractor-trolley while his driving license only permitted him to drive scooter/car/jeep/motorcycle. The learned Tribunal has erred in ignoring the fact that the driving lic