The main legal point established is that a claim petition under section 163A of the Motor Vehicle Act should be determined within the parameters prescribed by that section and should not be treated as a claim under section 166.

JUDGMENT :

(Sharad Kumar Sharma, J.)

The claim petition being claim petition preferred under section 163A of the Motor Vehicle Act stood instituted before the court of learned Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Pauri Garhwal, on 06.07.2010, praying for the grant of an appropriate compensation on account of the sad demise of Mr. Rupan S/o Shri Chunni Lal, who is said to have met with an accident on 31.05.2010, at 14:55. It was contended in the claim petition that the deceased at the time of accident was 54 years of age, and at the relevant point of time, he was working as a “Safai Sevak” at Additional Primary Health Centre, Pokhal, District Pauri Garhwal. The claimants have came up with the case that since on the date of the accident, the deceased was having an income of Rs.12,000/- per month. Accordingly, they have prayed for that the compensation may be determined and paid to them to the tune of Rs.23,00,000/-.

2. The claim petition, thus, instituted on 06.07.2010, was opposed by the opposite party nos.1 and 2, therein, i.e. owner of the vehicle and the driver, as well as, the present appellant, who were later on impleaded by an amendment of 13.10.2010, denying the claim as it was raised under section 163A of the Motor Vehicle Act, and with regards to the adequacy of the same, as it was claimed by the claimants in the claim petition, which was registered as MACT No.33 of 2010, “Smt. Soma Devi and others Vs. Harimohan Singh Rawat and others”.

3. The appellants, herein, had contested the proceedings by filing a written statement, after they were impleaded as party to the proceedings on 18.02.2011, denying the contention of the claim petition, and particularly, they have taken a specific plea in paragraph 1, that since the claim petition itself has been preferred under section 163A of the Motor Vehicle Act, the parameters prescribed for its determination has had to be confined on the basis of the annual income, which was accrued to the deceased, which will be less than Rs.40,000/- as contemplated under the said provisions. The provisions as contained under section 163A of Motor Vehicle Act, is extracted as under:-

“[163A. Special provisions as to payment of compensation on structured formula basis.—

(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act or in any other law for the time being in force or instrument having the force of law, the owner of the motor vehicle of the authorised insurer shall be liable to pay in the case of death or permanent disablement due to accident arising out of the use of motor vehicle, compensation, as indicated in the Second Schedule, to the legal heirs or the victim, as the case may be.

Explanation.—For the purposes of this sub-section, “permanent disability” shall have the same meaning and extent as in the Workmen’s Compensation Act, 1923.

(2) In any claim for compensation under sub-section (1), the claimant shall not be required to plead or establish that the death or permanent disablement in respect of which the claim has been made was due to any wrongful act or neglect or default of the owner of the vehicle or vehicles concerned or of any other person.

(3) The Central Government may, keeping in view the cost of living by notification in the Official Gazette, from time to time amend the Second Schedule”.

4. The respective parties led their evidence, and consequent to it, the learned Motor Accident Claims Tribunal had rendered an award on 02.04.2012, and while determining the quantum of the compensation, because there was no other factual dispute, which was subjected to the challenge before the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, the learned Motor Accident Claims Tribunal while deciding the issue no.3, had determined the aspect of compensation by treating the income accruing to the deceased on the basis of the income accruing to the deceased as depicted in the claim petition i.e. Rs.12,000/- and after making the legally admissible deductions as permissible under law to the extent of 1/3rd, the amount of d