The court modified the compensation for accidental death from Rs.18,00,000 to Rs.22,20,000, upholding the principle of just compensation based on appropriate income calculations and adjusting interest rates.

JUDGMENT :

B.R.MADHUSUDHAN RAO, J.

1. This memorandum of Civil Miscellaneous Appeal is filed under Section 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (for short ‘MV Act’) assailing the award passed by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal-cum-XXV Additional Chief Judge, City Civil Court, Hyderabad (for short ‘the Tribunal’) in M.V.O.P.No.2257 of 2012 dated 26.03.2014.

2. Appellant herein is the respondent No.2, respondent Nos.1 to 3 herein are the petitioners and respondent Nos.4 and 5 are the respondent Nos.1 and 3 before the Tribunal.

3. Learned counsel for the appellant submits that the learned Tribunal erroneously awarded an amount of Rs.18,00,000/- towards compensation in favour of the claimants (respondent Nos.1 to 3 herein), which is excessive and on higher side. The Tribunal ought not to have taken the monthly income of the deceased – A.Arun Kumar at Rs.30,000/- per month without any basis and the Tribunal ought not to have come to a conclusion that the deceased is able to earn atleast Rs.30,000/- per month basing on the loan installments and shop rents paid by the deceased. Further he submits that 50% of the income has to be deducted as the deceased is an unmarried person and prayed to allow the appeal.

4. Learned counsel for respondent Nos.1 to 3 – petitioners submits that the learned Tribunal has properly appreciated the facts of the case but awarded less compensation. In fact just compensation has to be awarded and prayed to dismiss the appeal and award enhanced compensation.

5.1 Respondent Nos.1 to 3 – petitioners have filed O.P under Section 166 of Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and Rule 475/1B of the A.P.Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 read with Section 140 (C) of MV Act with a prayer to pass an award for Rs.25,00,000/- with interest at the rate of 18% per annum towards compensation for the death of A.Arun Kumar in a road traffic accident.

5.2 Respondent Nos.1 and 2 – petitioner Nos.1 and 2 and respondent No.3 - petitioner No.3 are the parents and sister of A.Arun Kumar. A.Arun Kumar had been to Sabarimalai along with his friend by name Santosh Kumar and they were returning to Hyderabad on 19.01.2012, they boarded one private travels bus bearing No.AP-16-TB-6600. When the bus reached near SC colony, Gummalakunta Village, Banthalapalli Mandal, Ananthapur District on National Highway No.205, at about 04.00 hours the driver of the bus without noticing the stationed lorry which was stopped on the left side of the road, ramed due to high speed in a rash and negligent manner and caused the accident. A.Arun Kumar and other persons sustained severe injuries, died on the spot. The deceased and another person died on the spot. Stationed lorry bearing No.AP-03-TA-2101 was stopped on the left side of the road due to some technical defect. Deceased was shifted to Government Hospital, Dharmavaram for postmortem. On the complaint, a case in Crime No.8 of 2012 was registered by Police Banthalapalli, Ananthapur District.

5.3 Deceased – A.Arun Kumar was hale and healthy, was a bachelor and aged about 32 years at the time of accident. He was doing kirana business and also doing real estate business, earning an amount of Rs.50,000/- per month and he is the only earning member of the family. Due to premature and unexpected death of the deceased, the respondent Nos.1 to 3 – petitioners were put to hardship, they lost their bread winner and claimed compensation of Rs.25,00,000/- along with interest at the rate of 18% per annum.

6. Respondent No.4 herein - respondent No.1 – owner of the bus bearing No.AP-16-TB-6600 and respondent No.5 herein -respondent No.3 – owner of the stationed lorry bearing No.AP 03 TA 2101 remained ex-parte before the Tribunal.

7. Appellant - respondent No.2 has filed