Punjab-Haryana High Court
Angoori Devi And Others vs Yudhvir Singh And Others on 11 September, 2012
Author: T.P.S. Mann
Bench: T.P.S. Mann
IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA
AT CHANDIGARH
F.A.O. No. 195 of 2007
Date of Decision : September 11, 2012
Angoori Devi and others ....Appellants
Versus
Yudhvir Singh and others .....Respondents
CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE T.P.S. MANN
Present : Mr. Anand Kumar Bishnoi, Advocate
for the appellants.
None for respondents No. 2 and 3.
Mr. Suman Jain, Advocate
for respondent No.4.
T.P.S. Mann, J. (Oral)
The claimants have filed this appeal against the award dated 10.10.2006 passsed by Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, Hisar to the extent of awarding inadequate compensation amount to them on account of death of Shiv Kumar in a motor vehicular accident.
Admittedly, at the time of the accident, the deceased was having a gross salary of ` 25,004.50p. or to say ` 25,000/-. While calculating the net salary, the Tribunal deducted an amount of ` 10,328/-, i.e. Pension Fund ` 2,382/-, G.P. Fund ` 2,382/-, car loan ` 1,491/-, VPF ` 1,863/-, Income tax ` 2,200/- and Staff Welfare ` 10/- so as to arrive at an amount of ` 14,676/-. F.A.O. No. 195 of 2007 -2- However, only the amount of income tax and repayment of car loan could have been taken into consideration so as to calculate the net salary. None of the other amounts could have been deducted as the Pension Fund, G.P.Fund., VPF and Staff Welfare Fund were to be paid to the employee at the time of his retirement. Under these circumstances, this Court has no other option but to deduct only an amount of ` 3,700/-, i.e. ` 2,200/- as the income tax payable and ` 1,491/- or to say ` 1,500/- towards repayment of car loan . Accordingly, the net salary is taken to be ` 21,300/-.
The deceased, according to the claimants, was 45 years of age. However, no documentary evidence had been brought on record to establish the said fact. Reliance was placed only upon the post-mortem report where the age of the deceased was mentioned as 45 years. Counsel for the appellants fairly conceded that the age of the deceased can be taken to be anywhere between 46 years and 50 years. Accordingly, multiplier of '13' has to be applied as has been held by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Smt. Sarla Verma and others Vs. Delhi Transport Corporation and another, 2009 (3) RCR (Civil) 77 and not the multiplier of '12' as had been applied by the learned Tribunal. Similarly, the Court is conscious of the fact that the claimants are four in number being widow, two daughters and a son left behind by the deceased. In such a situation, deduction of F.A.O. No. 195 of 2007 -3- 1/4th is to be made and not 1/3rd which the deceased must be spending upon his personal needs.
Accordingly, after making the deduction of 1/4th, the dependency is calculated as ` 15,975/- per month or ` 1,91,700/- per annum. After applying the multiplier of '13', the compensation is assessed as ` 24,92,100/-. To this, amount of ` 5,000/- for funeral expenses, ` 5,000/- for loss of consortium and ` 2,500/- for loss of estate has to be added as earlier done by the Tribunal. The total amount of compensation is, thus, calculated as ` 25,04,600/-.
Resultantly, the compensation amount is enhanced from ` 14,21,396/- to ` 25,04,600/-. The enhanced amount of compensation shall be paid to appellant Smt. Angoori Devi only within a period of three months from the date of receipt of certified copy of the order. All the respondents shall be jointly and severally liable to pay the enhanced amount of compensation as well. In the event of the enhanced amount of compensation not being paid within the stipulated period, it shall earn interest at the rate of 6% per annum from the date of filing of the claim petition till its realisation.
The appeal is, accordingly, disposed of.
( T.P.S. MANN )
September 11, 2012 JUDGE
satish