9911796707
TMI Blog2011 (9) TMI 142X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tition bearing Suit No. 899/1992 was filed by the appellants under Sections 166 and 140 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, claiming compensation in the sum of Rs.80 lacs against the driver, the owner and the insurer of the offending tanker, which had crushed the TSR in which the deceased was travelling as a passenger. In the written statement filed by him, the respondent No.1 denied that he was driving the offending tanker at the time of the accident, but the insurance of the said vehicle in the name of the respondent No.2-owner was admitted by the Insurance Company, arrayed as the respondent No.3 in the claim petition. The learned Claims Tribunal having come to the conclusion that the deceased Surender Pal Singh as well as the driver of the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ath of her husband, though she categorically denied the suggestion that her husband was not earning Rs.40,000/- per month. On the basis of aforesaid evidence on record, the learned Tribunal awarded a sum of Rs.4,78,000/- to the appellants with interest at the rate of 9% per annum from the date of the filing of the petition till the date of the realisation of the award amount, including the amount of the interim award dated 24.01.1995. Aggrieved therefrom, the present appeal has been preferred by the appellants claiming that a niggardly amount of compensation has been award to them. 4. The contention of Mr. J.S.Garkal, the learned counsel for the appellants, is that the learned Tribunal grossly erred in the assessment of the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Income-tax Return filed for the aforesaid Assessment Year. 5. Mr. Garkal, the learned counsel for the appellants vehemently contended that there was no reason for the learned Tribunal to have disbelieved the testimony of PW4 - Smt. Harpreet Kaur with regard to the income of the deceased, more so, in view of the fact that the said testimony remained unshaken after cross-examination of the said witness and was supported by documentary evidence (Exhibit PW4/2 to Exhibit 4/4). 6. After scrutinizing the oral and documentary evidence on record, I am inclined to agree with the contention of the learned counsel for the appellants that the income of the deceased has not been properly assessed by the learned Tribunal. There is no mann ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ax in anticipation of his own accidental death. Thus, I see no reason to disbelieve the income of the deceased as declared by him in the Assessment Year 1992-93. I am fortified in coming to the aforesaid conclusion from the Assessment Order of the Income Tax Authority, which shows that as per the return of the income filed by the deceased on 31.12.1991, the income of the deceased for the Assessment Year 1991-92 as declared by him was Rs.4,43,390/-. This declaration was, however, not accepted by the Income-tax Department, which assessed the taxable income of the deceased assessee to be Rs.4,64,588/- under Section 143 (3) of the Income-tax Act, 1961. In view of the aforesaid, in my view, the income of the deceased on the date of his d ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nder the heads of loss of consortium, loss of love and affection and loss of estate of the deceased, that is, in all a sum of Rs.22,30,750/- (Rupees twenty two lacs thirty thousand seven hundred and fifty only) is awarded to the appellants. 9. In view of the aforesaid, the award amount is enhanced by a sum of Rs.17,52,750/-. Interest at the rate of 7.5% per annum shall be payable on the enhanced amount from the date of the filing of the petition till the date of realization. Forty percent of the enhanced amount shall enure to the benefit of the widow and the remaining amount shall enure to the benefit of two children and the mother of the deceased in the proportion of twenty percent each. The respondent No.3 is directed to satisfy t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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