Punjab-Haryana High Court
United India Insurance Co.Ltd vs Sube Singh And Others on 15 January, 2014
FAO No. 218 of 2014 1
IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT
CHANDIGARH
FAO No. 218 of 2014
Date of Decision: 15.01.2014
United India Insurance Co.Ltd. ........Appellant
versus
Sube Singh and others ......... Respondents
CORAM: Hon'ble Mr. Justice Ajay Tewari
Present: Mr.D.S.Adlakha, Advocate
for the appellant.
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1. Whether Reporters of local papers may be allowed to see the judgment?
2. To be referred to the Reporters or not?
3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest?
Ajay Tewari, J. (Oral):
By this appeal the insurance company has challenged the award dated 05.10.2013 passed by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Kurukshetra on account of the death of one Gurmailo Devi in a motor vehicle accident.
Briefly stated, the facts of the case are on 23.11.2012 Gurmailo Devi(since deceased) was returning to village Ban on motor cycle bearing no. HR-07S-1502 having being driven by Rajiv Kumar at a normal speed, after attending a marriage ceremony at Radaur. When they reached near Tikona turn on Saharanpur-Kurukshetra road, a truck bearing no. HR-58A- 4787 came from the side of Yamuna Nagar i.e from behind having been driven in a rash and negligent manner and struck against their motor cycle due to which they both fell down. Gurmailo Devi came under the wheel of the truck and died at the spot. The driver i.e. respondent No.1 in the claim petition namely Angrej Singh, fled from the spot after causing the accident. Nagpal Sunita 2014.02.12 12:01 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document FAO No. 218 of 2014 2 The Tribunal held him liable for causing the accident. Since the deceased was a house wife, the Tribunal fixed her notional income at ` 9000/- per month which came to ` 1,08,000/- per annum. She was 40 year old at the time of accident, multiplier of 15 was applied and the total loss of income was assessed at ` 16, 20,000/-. Funeral expenses to the tune of ` 25,000/- were also awarded. Thus, in all the compensation awarded was `16,45,000/-.
Learned counsel for the appellant has argued that even while noticing that the income of a skilled worker in 2012 was approximately `8000/- the Tribunal has wrongly assessed the income of the deceased as ` 9000/-. As per him once the notional income had been taken a deduction had to be made for personal expenses. This argument is flawed. In Lata Wadhwa and others v. State of Bihar and others reported as 2001(4) RCR(Civil) 673 (where the accident had taken place in 1981) the Hon'ble Supreme Court evaluated the contribution of a house wife at ` 3000/-per month. The accident in the present case took place after 23 years. In my considered opinion to tag a house wife as a 'skilled worker' alone does not do complete justice to her multifarious role as a home manager. Keeping in view the lapse of 23 years between the accident in the case of Lata Wadhwa and the present accident and my conclusion that a house wife is something more than a mere skilled worker it would not be unreasonable to estimate the contribution of the deceased in the present case at a higher figure. On the whole I see no reason for reducing the quantum.
Appeal is dismissed.
(AJAY TEWARI) JUDGE January 15 , 2014 sunita Nagpal Sunita 2014.02.12 12:01 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document FAO No. 218 of 2014 3 Nagpal Sunita 2014.02.12 12:01 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document