Punjab-Haryana High Court
Smt. Sushil Jain Widow Of Shri Chhabil ... vs The State Of Haryana And Another on 3 January, 2011
Author: K. Kannan
Bench: K. Kannan
FAO No.1051 of 1998 -1-
IN THE HIGH COURT FOR THE STATES OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT
CHANDIGARH
FAO No.1051 of 1998
Date of Decision. 03.01.2011
Smt. Sushil Jain widow of Shri Chhabil Dass and others ......Appellants
Versus
The State of Haryana and another ......Respondents
Present: Mr. H.S. Bhullar, Advocate
for Mr. A.S. Chahal, Advocate
for the appellants.
Mr. Kunal Garg, AAG, Haryana
for the respondents.
CORAM:HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE K. KANNAN
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?
-.-
K. KANNAN J.(ORAL)
1. The claim is for enhancement of compensation for death of a Government employee who was aged 51 years. The deceased was said to be earning Rs.8250/- and the claimants were wife, son and daughter. The Tribunal took the dependency of 2/3rd of the amount and taking Rs.5500/- as the monthly contribution to the family, adopted a multiplier of 8. The Tribunal, however, did not provide for the conventional heads of claim like loss of consortium and loss to estate etc.
2. Learned counsel for the appellants states that after the death of the deceased, the claimants had to move into their own house which was previously rented and suffered loss of rental income from a tenant. I cannot take this to be the proximate cause for the death of any loss of FAO No.1051 of 1998 -2- rental income by the claimants moving into their own house and not availing of Government accommodation cannot be a material for determining compensation.
3. Learned counsel for the respondent contends that the claimants were obtaining pension resulting from the death. Pension is a deferred wage and it is not a benefit accruing on account of death and therefore, such amount cannot be deducted.
4. I would apply the formula as suggested by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Sarla Verma Vs. DTC 2009(6) SCC 121 and take the dependency at 2/3rd and adopt a multiplier of 11 for a person, who was in the age group of 51 to 55 years. The loss of dependence would be, therefore, Rs.7,26,000/-. I will add Rs.5,000/- towards loss of consortium to the wife, Rs.5,000/- towards loss to estate and Rs.2500/- towards funeral expenses. In all, the total amount of compensation will be Rs.7,38,500/-. The amount in excess over has been awarded by the Tribunal shall bear interest @6% from the date of petition till the date of payment.
3. The amount shall be distributed equally amongst all the claimants. The appeal is allowed to the above extent.
(K. KANNAN) JUDGE January 03, 2011 Pankaj*