High Court Madhya Pradesh High Court

Mahila Bhuwanibai vs Moujilal Kushwaha on 14 July, 2010

Madhya Pradesh High Court
Mahila Bhuwanibai vs Moujilal Kushwaha on 14 July, 2010
                              M.A. No. 1827/2010
14-7-10

              Shri         Sushil      Kumar       Jha,     Advocate        for     the
          appellants.

              Today, the case is listed on default of non-
          filing of application for condonation of delay.

              The     office        has    reported        that    the     appeal    is
          barred by 84 days. Before adverting to the question
          of condonation of delay I thought it appropriate to
          hear the learned counsel for the appellants on the
          merits of the case as to how in the present case the
          amount of compensation deserves to be enhanced.

              Submission          of      the     learned        counsel    for     the
          appellants is that the income of the deceased has
          not been assessed appropriately.

              Paragraph        17      of       the    award      passed     by     the
          tribunal    is     perused.       It     was     the    claim    that     the
          deceased used to earn Rs.5000/- per month and he was
          involved in the agricultural work and also used to
          sell the vegetables. Before the tribunal, Bhuwani
          Bai PW-1 stated that there is an agricultural land
          but no material was produced before the tribunal to
          prove     that    the     deceased          or   the     claimants      were
          holding the agricultural land. No proof in relation
          to the income was submitted by the claimants. In
          absence of any evidence the tribunal has taken into
          account     the    notional           income     of     the    deceased     @
                                                                    M.A. No. 1827/2010




                                           2




     Rs.3000/-       per    month.      The      date     of     incident        is
     1.

l5.2007. Accordingly, the tribunal applied the
multiplier of 16 and thereby awarded a sum of
Rs.4,32,000/-. The compensation from other heads of
funeral rites, loss of consortium and loss of estate
has also been awarded and thereby the total
compensation of Rs.4,52,000/- has been awarded.

The tribunal has applied the ration of Sarla
Verma vs. Delhi Transport Corporation and others
,
2009 ACJ 1298 SC. Keeping in view the age of the
deceased between 31-35, the multiplier of 16 has
been applied. In the case of Sarla Verma (supra),
the Supreme Court has applied the multiplier of 15.
Thus, the tribunal itself has applied the multiplier
at a higher rate.

In view of the aforesaid, I do not think it
appropriate to permit the appellants to file
application for condonation of delay as the award
passed by the tribunal is proper. There are no
merits in the case. The appeal is accordingly
dismissed.

(R.K. GUPTA)
Judge
S/