Research › Search › Judgment

Punjab High Court · body

2016 DIGILAW 1476 (PNJ)

Harbhajan Kaur v. Iqbal Kaur @ Bala

2016-05-20

SNEH PRASHAR

body2016
JUDGMENT : Sneh Prashar, J. By way of this appeal, appellants-Harbhajan Kaur and another seek enhancement of compensation awarded by learned Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Gurdaspur (for short, "the Tribunal") vide award dated 18.07.2007 passed in MACT Case No.185 of 21.09.2002 on account of death of their son Gurmukh Singh, who lost his life in a vehicular accident. 2. The submissions made by Mr. Mandeep Singh Bedi, learned senior counsel for the appellants, Mr. Ravinder Arora, learned counsel for respondent No.5-insurance company have been heard and record perused. 3. Learned counsel for the appellants-claimants contends that at the time of accident the age of the deceased was 28 years. He was working as a mason and was earning Rs. 6000/- per month, but learned Tribunal wrongly assessed his income as Rs. 3000/- per month only. No amount was added by learned Tribunal to the income of the deceased computing future prospects and the multiplier applied by learned Tribunal is also inappropriate. The amount of Rs. 10,000/- awarded as funeral expenses etc. is on the lower side. Also no amount was awarded to the appellants for loss of love and affection. 4. On the other hand, learned counsel for the respondent/insurance company argued that the deceased being bachelor at the time of accident, there had to be deduction of 50% of the income towards personal and living expenses of the deceased but learned Tribunal erred in assessing the dependency of the appellant as Rs. 2000/- per month. 5. No substantive and reliable evidence was produced by the appellants to prove the occupation and income of the deceased. In absence of required evidence and considering the age of the deceased and other relevant factors including the year of accident, learned Tribunal rightly assessed the income of the deceased as Rs. 3000/- per month and that needs no modification. 6. Perusal of the award shows that no amount was added to the income of the deceased computing future prospects. Following the ratio of Rajesh and others v. Rajbir Singh and others, 2013(3) R.C.R. (Civil) 170 since the age of the deceased was 28 years when he died in the accident, there had to be an addition of 50% to the actual income of the deceased on account of future prospects, which learned Tribunal failed to allow. Following the ratio of Rajesh and others v. Rajbir Singh and others, 2013(3) R.C.R. (Civil) 170 since the age of the deceased was 28 years when he died in the accident, there had to be an addition of 50% to the actual income of the deceased on account of future prospects, which learned Tribunal failed to allow. Since the deceased was a bachelor at the time of accident and only his mother was the dependent, as laid down in Sarla Verma and others v. Delhi Transport Corporation and another, 2009(3) R.C.R. (Civil) 77, half of the income of the deceased towards his personal and living expenses should have been deducted. Learned Tribunal applied the multiplier of 8' as per the age of parents of the deceased whereas the age of the deceased is to be taken into consideration for that purpose, as such, the multiplier of 17' would be the appropriate multiplier. Accordingly, the compensation payable to the appellants-claimants is calculated as under:- 1. Monthly income of the deceased (in Rupees) Rs. 3000/- 2. Actual age of the deceased 28 years 3. Increase in future income as per Rajesh and others' case (supra) Rs. 1500/- 4. Annual dependency 1/2 of Rs. 4500 x 12 = Rs. 27,000/- 5. Multiplier 17 6. Total Rs. 4,59,000/- 7. In addition to the amount of Rs. 4,59,000/- calculated towards dependency, the amount of Rs. 10,000/- awarded under the head of funeral expenses etc. is enhanced to Rs. 25,000/-. A further amount of Rs. 50,000/- is awarded to the appellant-claimant No.1 for loss of love and affection. The rate of interest allowed by learned Tribunal shall remain the same. 8. Accordingly, the appeal filed by the appellants-claimants is partly allowed and the award dated 18.07.2007 passed by learned Tribunal is modified. The enhanced compensation of Rs. 3,32,000/- be paid to the appellants-claimants within 45 days from the date of receipt of certified copy of this judgment failing which the appellants-claimants shall be entitled to interest on the enhanced amount at the rate of 7.5% per annum from the date of this order till realization. The amount of compensation will be disbursed to the appellants-claimants in terms of shares/conditions incorporated in the award of the Tribunal.