Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, Section 166 – MACT – Assessment of income – Tribunal, after considering the evidence led by the parties, opined that the income of the deceased was Rs. 50,000/- per month and awarded compensation on that basis but on appeal the same was reduced to Rs. 20,000/- by High Court – Besides generating income from the land owned by the family in the form of sale of paddy and bananas, the deceased was also having income from supply of milk and coconuts to the school – There is also material available on record to show that he worked as a Government contractor -To make the lives of his family members comfortable, the deceased was multi-tasking and he was not engaged in a 9.00 to 5.00 P.M. job–Held that assessment of compensation cannot be done with mathematical precision – The Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 also provides for assessment of just and fair compensation – Considering the material placed on record by the appellants and value of the labour being put in by the deceased in agriculture, it would be reasonable to assess his income at Rs. 35,000/- per month – Considering his age at the time of death as 52 years on the date of accident, the applicable multiplier would be 11 as per the judgment of this Court in Sarla Verma – Appellants found entitled to compensation of Rs. 38,81,500/- with interest @8% from the date of filing of the claim petition till realization. (Para 11, 14 to 17)
SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
2024 STPL(Web) 153 SC
[2024 INSC 180]
Vethambal And Others Vs. The Oriental Insurance Company And Others
Civil Appeal No. 3482 of 2024-Decided on 06-03-2024
https://stpllaw.in/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2024-STPLWeb-153-SC.pdf
