Punjab-Haryana High Court
United India Insurance Company Ltd vs Jasmail Kaur And Others on 11 January, 2012
Author: Rakesh Kumar Jain
Bench: Rakesh Kumar Jain
FAO-153-2012 (O&M) [1]
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH
FAO-153-2012 (O&M)
Date of decision:11.01.2012
United India Insurance Company Ltd., Moga ...Appellant
Versus
Jasmail Kaur and others ...Respondents
CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAKESH KUMAR JAIN
Present: Mr. Harsh Aggarwal, Advocate,
for the appellant.
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RAKESH KUMAR JAIN, J.
This appeal is directed against order of the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Ludhiana dated 08.10.2011 in which the claimants, who are the parents of Jasvir Singh (deceased), have been awarded a sum of `7,55,000/- as compensation along with interest @ 9% per annum from the date of institution of the claim petition till its realization.
Learned counsel for the appellant has submitted that the age of the parents of the deceased was 45 years (respondent No.1) and 50 years (respondent No.2) respectively but the learned Tribunal has applied the multiplier of 15 for assessing the compensation. He has submitted that total income of the deceased has been assessed @ `75,000/- per annum out of which 1/3rd has been deducted towards his personal expenses and 2/3rd has been awarded towards the dependency of the claimants and a multiplier of 15 has been applied to reach at an amount of `7,50,000/- and also awarded `5,000/- for funeral and last rites. It is submitted that in a case where the age of the parents of the deceased is between 46-50 years, the multiplier of 13 should have been applied. Whereas in the case of Smt. Sarla Verma and others v. Delhi Transport Corporation and another, 2009(3) R.C.R. (Civil) 77, it is held by the FAO-153-2012 (O&M) [2] :::::::::
Supreme Court that the multiplier has to be selected and applied with reference to the age of the deceased. It is further held that the multiplier should be applied as mentioned in column (4) of the table by applying the cases of General Manager, Kerala State Road Transport Corporation v. Susamma Thomas, 1994(2) SCC 176, UP State Road Transport Corporation v. Trilok Chandra, 1996(4) SCC 362, New India Assurance Co. Ltd. v. Charlie, 2005(10) SCC 720, which starts with an operative multiplier of 18 for the age groups of 15 to 20 and 21 to 25 years and is reduced by one unit for every five years. Since the deceased was 28 years of age at the time of accident, therefore, I do not find any error in the order/award of the learned Tribunal whereby the multiplier of 15 has been applied.
In view of the above discussion, the present appeal is found to be without any merit and hence, the same is hereby dismissed.
January 11, 2012 (RAKESH KUMAR JAIN) vinod* JUDGE