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2009 DIGILAW 1931 (PNJ)

Parkash Singh v. Surjit Singh

2009-11-09

A.N.JINDAL

body2009
Judgment A.N.Jindal, J. 1. Vide award dated 03.12.2003, passed by Motor Accident Claims Tribunal. Fatehgarh Sahib (herein referred as ?the Tribunal?), compensation to the tune of Rs.60,000.00 alongwith interest @ 6% per annum was awarded in favour of the appellants?claimants (herein referred as ?the claimants?) and against the respondents jointly and severally, on account of the death of Bhupinder Singh in a motor vehicular accident. 2. The respondents have neither challenged the negligence nor their liability to pay the compensation. However, the claimants have come up for enhancement of compensation. 3. Admitted facts of the case are that the deceased Bhupinder Singh was 15 years of age at the time of accident. The plea of the claimants is devoid of any merit that deceased was working as helper with Jarnail Singh. Since he was 15 years old, therefore, he could not be employed anywhere. While assessing notionally, the income of the deceased could not be assessed less than Rs.1500.00 per month. 4. Now coming to the quantum of compensation, due to the sudden termination of the only son of the claimants, they have suffered big set back and a serious loss. After he had grown up, he would have been their helping hand and they could depend upon his income. For assessing the quantum of compensation, the Apex Court set out some guidelines in case Lata Wadhwa and others v. State of Bihar and others, 2001(4) R.CR.(Civil) 673 ?AIR 2001 (SC) 3218 wherein it was observed as under ?? "So far as the award of compensation in case of children are concerned, Shri Justice Chandrachud, has divided them into two groups. first group between the age group of 5 to 10 years and the second group between the age group of 10 to 15 years. In case of children between the age group of 5 to 10 years, a uniform sum of Rs.50,000.00 has been held to be payable by way of compensation. to which the conventional figure of Rs.25,000.00 has been added and as such to the heirs of the 14 children, a consolidated sum ofRs.75,000.00 each, has been awarded. In case of children between the age group of 5 to 10 years, a uniform sum of Rs.50,000.00 has been held to be payable by way of compensation. to which the conventional figure of Rs.25,000.00 has been added and as such to the heirs of the 14 children, a consolidated sum ofRs.75,000.00 each, has been awarded. So far as the children in the age group of 10 to 15 years, there are 10 such children, who died on the fateful day and having found their contribution to the family at Rs.12,000.00 per annum, 11 multiplier has been applied, particularly, depending upon the age of he father and then the conventional compensation of Rs.25,000.00 has been added to each case and consequently, the heirs of each of the deceased above 10 years of age, have been granted compensation to the tune of Rs. 1,57,000.00 each. In case of the death of an infant, there may have been no actual pecuniary benefit derived by its parents during the child?s lifetime. But this will not necessarily bar ?the parents? claim and prospective loss will find a valid claim provided that the parents establish that they had a reasonable expectation of pecuniary benefit if the child had lived. This principle was laid down by the house of Lords in the famous case of Taff Vale Rail Co. v. Jenkins, 1913 AC 1, and Lord Atkinson said thus ? ".......all that is necessary is that a reasonable expectation of pecuniary benefit should be entertained by the person who sues. It is quite true that the existence of this expectation is an inference of fact? there must be a basis of fact from which the inference can reasonably be drawn; but I wish to express my emphatic dissent from the proposition that it is necessary that two of the facts without which the inference cannot be drawn are, first that the deceased earned money in the past and, second, that he or she contributed to the support of the plaintiff. These are, no doubt, pregnant pieces of evidence, but they are only pieces of evidence; and the necessary inference can I think be drawn from circumstances other than and different from them." At the same time, it must be held that a mere speculative possibility of benefit is not sufficient. These are, no doubt, pregnant pieces of evidence, but they are only pieces of evidence; and the necessary inference can I think be drawn from circumstances other than and different from them." At the same time, it must be held that a mere speculative possibility of benefit is not sufficient. Question whether there exists a reasonable expectation of pecuniary advantage is always a mixed question of fact and law. There are several decided cases on this point, providing the guidelines for determination of compensation in such cases but we do not think it necessary for us to advert, as the claimants had not adduced any materials on the reasonable expectation of pecuniary benefits, which the parents expected. In case of a bright and healthy boy, his performances in the school, it would be easier for the authority to arrive at the compensation amount, which may be different from another sickly, unhealthy, rickety child and bad student, but as has been stated earlier, not an iota of material was produced before Shri Justice Chandrachud to enable him to arrive at just compensation in such cases and, therefore, he has determined the same on an approximation. Mr. Nariman, appearing for the TISCO on his own, submitted that the compensation determined for the children of all age groups could be doubled, as in his views also, the determination made is grossly inadequate. Loss of a child to the parents is irrecoupable, and no amount of money could compensate the parents. Having regard to the environment from which these children were brought, their parents being reasonably well placed officials of the Tata Iron and Steel Company, and on considering the submission of Mr.Nariman, we would direct that the compensation amount for the children between the age group of 5 to 10 years should be three times. In other words, it should be Rs.1.5 Lakhs, to which the conventional figure of Rs.50,000.00 should be added and thus the total amount in each case would be Rs.2.00 Lakhs. So far as the children between the age group of 10 to 15 years, they are all students of Class VI to Class X and are children of employees of TISCO. The TISCO itself has a tradition that every employee can get one of his child employed in the company. Having regard to these facts, in their case, the contribution of Rs. The TISCO itself has a tradition that every employee can get one of his child employed in the company. Having regard to these facts, in their case, the contribution of Rs. 12,000.00 per annum appear to us to be on the lower side and in our considered opinion, the contribution should be Rs.24,000.00 and instead of 11 multiplier, the appropriate multiplier would be 15. Therefore, the compensation, so calculated on the aforesaid basis should be worked out to Rs.3.60 lakhs, to which an additional sum of Rs.50,000.00 has to be added, thus making the total amount payable at Rs.4.10 lakhs for each of the claimants of the aforesaid deceased children. 5 Keeping in view the circumstances of the case that the deceased hailed from a poor family and he could grow to be a labourer or driver, the contribution of the deceased aged about 15 years towards his family could not be expected to be more than Rs.1500.00 per month and Rs.18,000.00 per annum. Therefore, after applying a multiplier of 15, as directed by the Apex Court judgment in Lata Wadhwa?s Case (Supra) and after adding Rs.25,000.00 as conventional compensation, the total compensation comes to Rs.2,95,000.00 . 6. Resultantly, this appeal is partly accepted and the impugned award is modified by enhancing compensation to the tune of Rs.2,35,000.00 over and above the award amount. However, the claimants will also be entitled to receive interest on the enhanced amount at the same rate as awarded by the Tribunal. Remaining terms of the award shall remain intact.