Major children and married daughters of government employees are deemed dependents for Motor Vehicles Act compensation. Permanent employees are entitled to 15% future prospects, and penal interest for payment defaults is not legally permissible.

ORDER :

This order shall govern disposal of both these Misc. Appeals as they arise out of common award dated 30.04.2013 passed by the Second Additional Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Gwalior, in Claim Case No.8/2012; whereby, learned Claims Tribunal has awarded a compensation of Rs.21,68,432/- for the death of Santlal Gurung in a road accident.

2 . M.A.No.801/2013 has been filed by appellant/Insurance Company (hereinafter for convenience shall be referred as “Insurance Company”); whereas, M.A.No.820/2013 been filed by the appellants/claimants (hereinafter for convenience shall be referred as “claimants”).

3. Briefly stated, the facts of the case are that on 17.11.2011 after duty deceased Santlal, who was posted as Constable in B.S.F. Department, Tekanpur, was going to his home on bicycle in slow speed, at that juncture, near Peer Baba Dargah, Tekanpur, respondent- Hemsingh Kadera, driver of truck No.MP09/H.G. 3378 came from the side of Dabra by driving it rashly and negligently and dashed the bicycle of Santlal, due to which he died on the spot.

4 . Learned counsel for the Insurance Company submitted that learned Tribunal has erred in not appreciating the fact that claimants No.2 & 3 were major and were not supposed to be dependents upon the income of the deceased and in these circumstances, the dependency ought not to have been assessed as 3/4th of the income of the deceased. The learned Tribunal while assessing the income of the deceased grossly erred in not making any deductions under Income Tax, Service Tax and Professional Tax which the deceased was under obligation to pay. The learned Tribunal applied the multiplier on the entire period on uniform basis, whereas the deceased was in service of Para Military Forces and as such was to retire at the age of 58 years. After retirement the pension to be received by the deceased was certainly 50% of his income/pay which he was receiving at the time of his death. Therefore, in this circumstances, learned Tribunal ought to have assessed dependency on his income for next five years and thereafter on his pension for remaining four years. The learned Tribunal has also erred in directing penal interest in default of payment of amount of compensation within two months from retrospective effect which is not envisaged in the Motor Vehicles Act. In support of his submission, learned counsel for the Insurance Company has placed reliance on the following judgments :-

(i) Amrit Bhanu Shali and others vs. National Insurance Co. Ltd. & Ors., (2012) 11 SCC 738.

(ii) Deep Shikha & Anr. Vs. National Insurance Co. Ltd. & Ors. decided on 13.05.2025 in Special Leave Petition (Civil) Nos.22265-22266 of 2018

(iii) Fakir Chand Taneja and others vs. Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd. & Anr., 2022(4) T.A.C. 440(SC).

(iv) Sebastiani Lakra & Ors. vs. National Insurance Co. Ltd. & Anr., (2019) 17 SCC 465

(v) National Insurance Co. Ltd. Vs.Keshav Bahadur and others , 2004 ACJ 648

(vi) Smt. Sarla Verma and others vs. Delhi Transport Corpn. & Anr., 2009(2) T.A.C. 677 (SC)

(vii) National Insurance Co. Ld. Vs. Pranay Sethi & Ors., MACD 2017(4) (SC) 137

(viii) Iffco Tokyo General Insurance Co. Ltd. Vs. Smt. Mamta & Ors. decided on 25.08.2023 in M.A.No.2008/2023.

5. It is submitted by learned counsel for the claimants that learned Tribunal has not considered the increment and DA which would be added to the income of the deceased every year. As per settled law, on these two counts 10% of the income is to be added in the income of the deceased. Learned Tribunal has considered dependency of the claimants as 3/4 while the claimants were totally dependent on the income of the deceased, therefore, the dependency ought to be considered as 4/5. Compensation under the head of loss of consortium has not been granted to all the claimants. The compensation qua funeral expenses and estate of loss is also on lower side. Rate of interest is also on lower side. On these grounds, learned counsel prayed for enhancement of the compensation by Rs.5,00,