TMI Blog2015 (9) TMI 167X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he said heads. So far as the head of ‘salary’ is concerned, we do not express any opinion since we have found that the appellant could not prove the salary certificate and for such reason, we do not intend to interfere with the opinion expressed by the Tribunal on the established principle of notional income and accordingly, we do not want to disturb the said notional income while calculating the total compensation in favour of the appellant. - appellant is entitled to a sum of 6,55,400/- plus interest @ 8 per cent per annum from the date of filing of the claim petition till the date of payment as compensation. - Decided partly in favour of appellant. - CIVIL APPEAL NO. 4001 OF 2014 - - - Dated:- 25-3-2014 - Pinaki Chandra Ghose, J. JUDGMENT 1. Leave granted. 2. This appeal is directed against the order dated April 16, 2013 passed by the High Court of Uttrakhand affirming the award dated December 3, 2012 passed by the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, Haridwar in Motor Accident Claim Petition No.75/2011. The Tribunal directed the respondent Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd. to pay a sum of 4,28,000/- to the claimant. Being aggrieved by the quantum of compensation, th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e deceased was 36,000/-. The Tribunal also followed the principle laid down in Smt. Sarla Verma vs. Delhi Transport Corporation (2009) 6 SCC 121, and held that one third share from the notional income of the deceased should be deducted as his personal expenses to calculate compensation on the basis of the notional annual income of the deceased. The Tribunal further held that the deceased s father, mother and wife were dependents on the deceased and they should be treated as dependents of the deceased. The multiplier of 17 was fixed by the Tribunal considering the age of the deceased who was 26 years of age at the time of the accident. After taking into account all these aspects, Tribunal came to the conclusion and assessed the compensation amount at 4,08,000/- and further granted 5,000/- for cremation, 5,000/- for loss of estate and 10,000/- for loss of 1 consortium and thereby the compensation amount was determined at 4,28,000/- and also directed that interest to be paid at the rate of 6% per annum on the total compensation amount from the date of filing of the petition till the date of decision. 3.5 Being aggrieved, an appeal was filed before the High Court. The High Court dis ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... in the same throughout his life. 15. The rise in the cost of living affects everyone across the board. It does not make any distinction between rich and poor. As a matter of fact, the effect of rise in prices which directly impacts the cost of living is minimal on the rich and maximum on those who are self-employed or who get fixed income/emoluments. They are the worst affected people. Therefore, they put extra efforts to generate additional income necessary for sustaining their families. *** *** *** 18. Therefore, we do not think that while making the observations in the last three lines of paragraph 24 of Sarla Verma's judgment, the Court had intended to lay down an absolute rule that there will be no addition in the income of a person who is self-employed or who is paid fixed wages. Rather, it would be reasonable to say that a person who is self-employed or is engaged on fixed wages will also get 30 per cent increase in his total income over a period of time and if he / she becomes victim of accident then the same formula deserves to be applied for calculating the amount of compensation. 6. After considering the decisions of this Court in Santosh Devi (supra) as we ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... such heads, that is, for 1,00,000/- and 25,000/- respectively and we award such compensation under the said heads. So far as the head of salary is concerned, we do not express any opinion since we have found that the appellant could not prove the salary certificate and for such reason, we do not intend to interfere with the opinion expressed by the Tribunal on the established principle of notional income and accordingly, we do not want to disturb the said notional income while calculating the total compensation in favour of the appellant. 8. We have failed to understand why the Tribunal as well as the High Court lost its sight to hold that the victim could have had future prospects with regard to the amounts the victim used to earn during his life-time? Therefore, the notional income also needs to be increased by at least 30% and thereby the claimant is entitled to get the benefit of 900/- being the future prospects; the said amount should be added to the notional income of the victim. Therefore, it appears that the total salary along with future prospects of the victim should have been calculated at 3,000/- plus 900/- amounting to 3,900/- per month. The total deduction on pe ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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