Case Law Details
United india insurance co. Ltd. Vs Indiro devi & ors. (Supreme Court of India)
There is no doubt that if the salary certificate is taken into account the salary of the deceased should be taken as Rs. 1,06,176/- since the gross salary was Rs.8848 per month. That, however, in our view does not mean that the income of the deceased as stated in the Income Tax return should be totally ignored. It is not possible to agree with the observation of the Tribunal that it was necessary for the claimants to “explain the said contradiction” between two figures of income. The claimants had led reliable evidence that the deceased had returned an income of Rs. 2,42,606/- for the assessment year 2004-05. This piece of evidence has not been discredited. Indeed, it was possible that the deceased had income from other sources also. There is nothing in the law which requires the Tribunal to assess the income of the deceased only on the basis of a salary certificate for arriving at a just and fair compensation to be paid to the claimants for the loss of life.
FULL TEXT OF THE SUPREME COURT JUDGMENT
The deceased was 39 years old. He was employed with the Food Corporation of India (hereinafter referred to as ‘FCI’). He met with an accident when the three-wheeler he was travelling in collided with an rashly driven Canter truck and died. The claimants claimed compensation before the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (hereinafter referred to as “Tribunal”).
2. These petitions arise from the order dated 27.08.2015 passed in R. No. 408 of 2006 and the Civil Appeal FAO No. 4086 of 2005 by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh. The Insurance Company is before us (hereinafter referred to as “the petitioner”) in the instant petitions.
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