Meena v. Magma Hdi General Insurance Company Limited
2022-09-06
J.B.PARDIWALA, SURYA KANT
body2022
DigiLaw.ai
ORDER 1. Leave granted. 2. The appellant - claimant is aggrieved by the order dated 22.08.2019 passed by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh whereby the compensation amount of Rs.16,76,420/-, awarded by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Narnaul (for short, 'the Tribunal'), has been reduced to Rs.14,35,200/-. The High has reduced the amount of compensation on the premise that the minimum wages of an unskilled labourer in the State of Haryana, at the time of accident, were Rs.5,341/- per month. 3. The above-stated reason assigned by the High Court appears to be incorrect for the reason that the Tribunal has referred to Notifications-cum-Circulars issued by the State Government from time to time in respect of minimum wages and based thereupon, the monthly income of the deceased was assessed at Rs.6,760/- per month. 4. The Tribunal has categorically observed that the State Government has been issuing Notifications from time to time fixing the minimum wages of the daily wagers and taking into consideration such Notifications, the Tribunal was of the view, and rightly so, that the income of the deceased Sanjay was Rs.6,760/- per month. 5. We are, thus, inclined to accept the reason assigned by the learned Tribunal and find no justification in reducing the compensation by the High Court. 6. The appeal is, accordingly, allowed; the impugned judgment dated 22.08.2019 passed by the High Court is set aside and that of the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Narnaul dated 31.07.2015 is restored. The respondent - Insurance Company shall, accordingly, deposit the compensation amount along with interest, if any, with the Tribunal within a period of two months. 7. As a sequel to the above, pending interlocutory applications also stand disposed of.