Research › Search › Judgment

Punjab High Court · body

2018 DIGILAW 2209 (PNJ)

Navneet Kaur v. State of Punjab

2018-05-14

RITU BAHRI

body2018
JUDGMENT Ms. Ritu Bahri, J. (Oral):- The present appeal has been preferred by the claimant-appellant, seeking enhancement of the amount of compensation awarded by the learned Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Amritsar (for short, ‘the Tribunal’) to the tune of Rs.14,00,000/- vide impugned award dated 05.05.2015. 2. The facts which are not in dispute are that on 21.10.2014, deceased Satnam Singh and Palwinder Singh were coming back from their company on a motorcycle Honda on black colour. At about 7:45 P.M, when they reached at Wadala Bhitewind, one bus of Punjab Roadways bearing registration No. PB-02-AV-8738 was coming from Amritsar, being driven by respondent No. 3 rashly and negligently and struck against the motorcycle of the deceased. Both Satnam Singh and Palwinder Singh died on the way to hospital. F.I.R No. 209 dated 21.10.2014 was also registered in this regard under Section 304-A/279/337/338/427 IPC at P.S. Kamboh, Amritsar. 3. As per the Tribunal, the deceased-Satnma Singh in the present case was 38 years old at the time of the accident. The Tribunal took the income of the deceased at Rs.10000/- per month and 1/4th was deducted towards personal expenses and thereafter, applied the multiplier of 15, in view of Sarla Verma and others vs. Delhi Transport Corporation and another, [2009(3) Law Herald (SC) 2107] : 2009 (3) RCR (Civil) Page 77. Rs.50,000/- were awarded under the conventional heads. The total compensation awarded to the claimant was Rs.14,00,000/-. 4. The learned counsel for the claimants-appellants contends that the compensation awarded by the learned Tribunal is on the lower side and deserves to the enhanced, as the Tribunal has not awarded future prospects and the income of Rs.10,000/- has been taken on the lower side, as the deceased Satnam Singh was working with M/s S.S. Motors as a Manager. He was drawing the salary of Rs.20,000/- per month. P.W.3 Sukhraj Singh has proved the salary certificate of the deceased as Ex P-1. 5. On the other hand, the learned counsel for the respondent-Insurance Company has vehemently opposed the present appeal. 6. I have heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the record. 7. The learned Tribunal has rightly taken the income of the deceased at Rs.10,000/- per month as there was no record book, no income tax returns, no passbook, which could show that the deceased was taking the income of Rs.20,000/- per month. 6. I have heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the record. 7. The learned Tribunal has rightly taken the income of the deceased at Rs.10,000/- per month as there was no record book, no income tax returns, no passbook, which could show that the deceased was taking the income of Rs.20,000/- per month. No record pertaining to the receipt of salary was produced by the claimants. 8. Reference at this stage can be made to a recent judgment of Hon’ble the Supreme Court of India in a case of National Insurance Company Ltd vs. Pranay Sethi and others, [2017(4) Law Herald (P&H) 2970 (SC) : 2017 LawHerald.Org 1565] : passed in Spl Leave Petition (Civil) No. 25590 of 2014, decided on October 31, 2017 wherein the issue with regard to awarding of amount under the conventional heads has been authoritatively decided, while observing as under :- “54. As far as the conventional heads are concerned, we find it difficult to agree with the view expressed in Rajesh. It has granted Rs. 25,000/- towards funeral expenses, Rs. 1,00,000/- loss of consortium and Rs. 1,00,000/- towards loss of care and guidance for minor children. The head relating to loss of care and minor children does not exist. Though Rajesh refers to Santosh Devi, it does not seem to follow the same. The conventional and traditional heads, needless to say, cannot be determined on percentage basis because that would not be an acceptable criterion. Unlike determination of income, the said heads have to be quantified. Any quantification must have a reasonable foundation. There can be no dispute over the fact that price index, fall in bank interest, escalation of rates in many a field have to be noticed. The court cannot remain oblivious to the same. There has been a thumb rule in this aspect. Otherwise, there will be extreme difficulty indetermination of the same and unless the thumb rule is applied, there will be immense variation lacking any kind of consistency as a consequence of which, the orders passed by the tribunals and courts are likely to be unguided. Therefore, we think it seemly to fix reasonable sums. It seems to us that reasonable figures on conventional heads, namely, loss of estate, loss of consortium and funeral expenses should be Rs. 15,000/-, Rs. 40,000/- and Rs. 15,000/- respectively. The principle of revisiting the said heads is an acceptable principle. Therefore, we think it seemly to fix reasonable sums. It seems to us that reasonable figures on conventional heads, namely, loss of estate, loss of consortium and funeral expenses should be Rs. 15,000/-, Rs. 40,000/- and Rs. 15,000/- respectively. The principle of revisiting the said heads is an acceptable principle. But the revisit should not be fact-centric or quantum-centric. We think that it would be condign that the amount that we have quantified should be enhanced on percentage basis in every three years and the enhancement should be at the rate of 10% in a span of three years. We are disposed to hold so because that will bring in consistency in respect of those heads.” 9. In the present case, the compensation is being reassessed as per the judgments mentioned above:- Sr. No. Heads Calculations (i) Income Rs.10000/- per month (ii) 40% of (i) above to be added as future prospects Rs.10000 + Rs.4000 = Rs.14000/- per month (iii) 1/4th of (ii) deducted as personal expenses of the deceased Rs.14000-Rs.3500=Rs.10500/- per month (iv) Compensation after multiplier of 15 is applied Rs.10500X 12 X 15=Rs.18,90,000/- (v) Conventional heads (Loss of estate, loss of consortium and funeral expenses) Rs.70,000/- (vi) Total Compensation awarded Rs.19,60,000/- Enhanced amount of compensation Rs.19,60,000-Rs.14,00,000=Rs.5,60,000/- 10. The enhanced amount of compensation of Rs.5,60,000/- shall be payable within a period of forty five days from the date of receipt of certified copy of this order. The appellants shall also get interest @ 7.5% per annum from the date of filing of the claim petition, in view of the judgment of Hon’ble the Supreme Court in a case of Shri Nagar Mal and ors vs. The Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd and others, passed in Civil Appeal No. 448-2018., decided on 19.01.2018. The remaining conditions of disbursal of amount and recovery rights shall remain unaltered. 11. Accordingly, the award stands modified to the above extent and the present appeal is partly allowed.