ANITA DEVI AND ORS. versus SATYENDRA NARAIN SINGH AND ORS.

Citation: [2008] 10 S.C.R. 664 · Decided: 10-07-2008 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: ARIJIT PASAYAT · Disposal: Case Allowed
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Judgment (excerpt)

[2008] 10 S.C.R. 664 
A 
ANITA DEVI AND ORS. 
V. 
SATYENDRA NARAIN SINGH AND ORS. 
(Civil Appeal No.4291 of 2008) 
B 
JULY 10, 2008 
[DR. ARIJIT PASAYAT AND P. SATHASIVAM, JJ.] 
Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 - s. 166 - Fatal accident -
Claim for compensation by dependants of the deceased -
c MACT came upon a finding that there was no concrete mate-
rial regarding income of the deceased and awarded compen-
sation by taking notional income of the deceased at Rs. 15, 0001 
- p.a -Affirmed by High Court- Plea of claimants that several 
·documents were filed to establish the income of deceased 
D which were not consid~red by MACT or High Court - Held: 
Records of MACT show that certain documents were filed which 
may throw light on the income aspect - Matter remitted to 
MACT with direction to consider the matter relating to income 
of the deceased and determine compensation afresh taking 
E into account the documents already on record. 
A petition for compensation in terms of s.166 of the-
Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 was filed by dependants of a 
person who died in a vehicular accident. The Motor Acci-
dents Claims Tribunal (MACT) came upon a finding that 
F there was no concrete material regarding income of the 
deceased and awarded compensation to the claimants 
by taking notional income of the deceased at Rs.15,000/-
p.a. The award was affirmed by the High Court. 
Before this Court, the appellants-claimants con-
G tended thaf several documents were filed to establish the 
income of the deceased and this aspect was not taken 
note of, either by the MACT or by the High Cour.t. 
Allowing the appeal, the Court 
H 
664 
'1 
.i.- -
r 
-~ 
ANITA DEVI & ORS. v. SATYENDRA NARAIN 
665 
SINGH & ORS. [DR ARIJIT PASAYAT, J.] 
" 
HELD:1.1 To test the correctness of the stand of the A 
appellants that several documents were filed to establish 
the income of the deceased, the original records from 
MACT were called for. It appears from the records that cer-
(ain documents have been filed. It is true that there are no 
~ -,, 
copies of the income tax return or the assessment order. 
B 
But the documents on record can certainly throw light on 
the income aspect. [Para 6] [666-G-H; 667-A] 
1.2. The award of the MACT as affirmed by the High 
Court is set aside and the matter is remitted to MACT to 
consider the matter relating to income of the deceased and c 
determine the compensation afresh taking into account the 
documents already on record. [Para 7] [667-A & B] 
CIVILAPPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal No. 4291 
of 2008 
D 
--I 
From the final Judgment and Order dated 9.7.2004 of the 
High Court of Jharkhand at Ranchi in M.A. No. 155/2003 
Deba Prasad Mukherjee, Arvind Kr. Lall and Nandini Sen 
for the Appellants. 
E 
A.K. Raina and Dr. Kailash Chand for the Respondents. 
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by 
Dr. ARIJIT PASAYAT, J. 1. Leave granted. 
> 
2. Challenge in this appeal is to the order passed by a 
F 
Division Bench of the Jharkhand High Court, Ranchi dismiss-
ing the Miscellaneous application filed by the appellants under 
Section 173(1) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (in short the 
'Act'). 
G 
3. Case of the appellants, in a nutshell, is as follows: 
\. 
Pramod Kumar (hereinafter referred to as the 'deceased') 
died in a vehicular accident in which Maruti.Van bearing regis-
tration No.ER-14P-4320 was involved. The Maruti Van was be-
ing driven by respondent No.1 rashly and negligently. Initially, 
H 
666 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
(2008] 10 S.C.R. 
'( 
A 
Pramod Kumar had sustained grievous injuries. He was first 
taken to the GovernmentHospital from which he was referred 
to Bokaro General Hospital where he had expired on 18.4.2000. 
The deceased was 37 years of age. The petition for compen-
sation in terms of Section 166 of the Act was filed by the 
B 
dependants of the deceased. The Motor Accidents Claims Tri-
'Ir 
.... 
bunal (in short the 'MACT') on consideration of the materials 
placed before it held that claimants are entitled to compensa-
tion of Rs.1,39,808/-. Since the vehicle was the subject matter 
of insurance, the Orients! Insurance Co. Ltd. (hereinafter referred 
c to as the 'insurer') was held liable for the compensation amount 
to the claimants alongwith interest @ 9% per annum from the 
date of filing of the application. It was.found that there is no con-
crete material regardiflg the income of the deceased. How:.. 
ever, it was held that notional income of Rs.15,000/- p.a. can be 
D taken after deductin
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