Summary
In a motor accident death claim the High Court had cut the Tribunal's award from Rs 31,41,000 to Rs 16,97,370 by excluding the deceased's income tax return for assessment year 2008-09 because it was filed after the accident. The Court restored the Tribunal's award: a return covers the financial year it relates to, which here ended before the accident, and the date of filing is irrelevant; income tax returns are reliable statutory evidence of income and the Tribunal has discretion to average returns of different years or rely on one of them.
Issues
- Whether the income tax return of the deceased for assessment year 2008-09 could be excluded from consideration solely because it was filed after the date of the accident (12/08/2008).
- Whether, when returns for different assessment years are available, the Tribunal must take their average or may choose one assessment year.
Provisions considered
- Section 166 read with Section 140, Motor Vehicles Act, 1988The claim petition was filed under these provisions. The Court treated the Act as a beneficial, forward-looking welfare legislation and held that income tax returns are the appropriate statutory basis for assessing the deceased's income; the relevance of a return lies in the financial year it relates to, not the date it was filed, and the Tribunal has judicial discretion either to average the returns of different years or to adopt one year. (¶¶ 4, 13, 15)
Held
- A return for assessment year 2008-09 relates only to income of the period 01/04/2007 to 31/03/2008 and is necessarily filed after 31/03/2008; no income earned after that date can be reflected in it. Rejecting the return on the sole ground that it was submitted after the date of the accident cannot be legally sustained and cannot disadvantage the claimants. (¶ 12)
- An income tax return is a legally admissible statutory document on which the deceased's income can be assessed; following Malarvizhi and S. Vishnu Ganga, income tax returns are reliable evidence of the income of a deceased. (¶¶ 13, 14)
- Where returns for different assessment years are on record, it is for the Tribunal to adopt either the average income or one assessment year, a discretion that serves the social purpose of the Act as a beneficial legislation. The High Court's casual and superficial reduction of a rightful claim on a tenuous ground was wholly unjustified. (¶ 15)
- The impugned order was modified so as to restore the Tribunal's award of Rs 31,41,000 with interest at 9% per annum, to be paid by the insurer within two months after adjusting any amounts already paid, failing which an additional 9% per annum would run for the period of delay on both principal and interest. (¶ 16)
Result
Appeal disposed of; High Court's order modified and the Tribunal's award of Rs 31,41,000 with 9% interest restored; the insurer (respondent No. 1) to pay within two months after adjusting sums already paid, failing which additional interest at 9% per annum on principal and interest for the period of delay; no order as to costs.