The court emphasized the principles of assessing compensation based on the deceased's income and an appropriate multiplier, as outlined in the Motor Vehicles Act and relevant case law.

This is insurers appeal against the Award dated 20-01-2004, passed by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal/additional District Judge, Roorkee, Haridwar in Motor Accident Claim Case No. 25 of 2003.

2. The claimants, who are unfortu nate widow, minor children and mother of deceased Rajendra Kumar Sharma, claimed compensation of Rs. 35,10,0007-for his death in the motor accident on 19-02-2003 when his motor-cycle bearing registration No. UP 10-B 3669 was dashed by the offending vehicle bus bearing reg istration No. UMU 9904 resulting in mul tiple serious injuries to Rajendra Kumar Sharma, who succumbed to those injuries immediately after reaching the Civil Hos pital. The claimants further pleaded that Rajendra Kumar Sharma was getting sal ary of Rs. 13,045/- as teacher in a Gov ernment College.

3. The owner and the insurer of the offending vehicle bus contested the claim and denied their liability to pay compen sation to the claimants. The owner of the offending vehicle bus took the plea that the accident did not occur due to rash and negligent driving of the driver of the bus and in case of any liability to pay com pensation to the claimants, it would be that of Insurance Company. The insurer, on the other hand, took the plea that the accident occurred due to negligence of the deceased himself.

4. The claimants examined P. W. 1 Smt. Mithilesh, P. W. 2 Amarjeet, P. W. 3 Ravindra Singh and P. W. 4 Sanjay Bansal in support of their claim, whereas the owner and insurer of the bus did not ex amine any witness.

5. The Tribunal, on the evidence led by the parties, held that Rajendra Kumar Sharma died on account of the injuries sustained by him in the motor accident on 19-02-2003; the accident occurred due to the rash and negligent driving of the driver of the bus; and the insurer of the bus was liable to pay compensation to the claim ants.

6. Relying upon the evidence led by the claimants about the income of the deceased including his salary certificate, the Tribunal assessed his income at Rs. 13,045/- per month and Rs. 1,56,5407-per annum. After deducting l/3rd of the above amount as personal expenses of the deceased, the claimants dependency was assessed at Rs. 1,04,360/- per annum. By multiplying the annual dependency of Rs. 1,04,360/- with the multiplier of 15, the compensation was worked out to Rs. 15,65,4007 -. The Tribunal further awarded Rs. 10,000/- towards funeral expenses; loss of consortium to the widow; and loss of estate. Thus, a total sum of Rs. 15,75,000/- was awarded as compensa tion to the claimants for the death of Rajendra Kumar Sharma in the motor accident. The Tribunal further directed the insurer of the bus to pay interest on the above amount of compensation at the rate of 9% per annum in the event of its failure to pay the compensation within a period of one month from the Award.

7. Sri D. S. Patni, Advocate with Sri Manish Dalakoti, Advocate, the learned counsel for the appellant Insurance Com pany submitted that as the appellant - In surance Company was granted permission U/s 170 of the Motor Vehicles Act to con test the claim on all available defenses, the quantum of compensation is being challenged in this appeal. The learned counsel submitted that the Tribunal has erred in assessing the compensation on the basis of the gross income of the deceased without deducting the permissible deduc tions (including the Income Tax) from the salary; the multiplier of 15 selected by the Tribunal is on the higher side in view of the dictum of the Apex Court in the case of T. N. State Transport Corpn. Ltd. Vs. S. Rajapriya and others reported in (2005) 6 Supreme Court Cases 236; and the interest awarded by the Tribunal @ 9% per annum is also on the higher side.

8. Sri Manish Arora, the learned counsel for the claimants, on the other hand, supported the Award and submit ted that the assessment of income by the Tribunal is based on the salary certificate of the deceased; the selection of multiplier of 15 is in