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INDU MALHOTRA, J.

Leave granted.

1. The deceased – Satpal Singh was residing in Doha, Qatar since 1984. The Employment Contract Form of the deceased dated 21.08.1984 revealed that he was engaged as a labourer initially for a period of one year on a salary of 750 Qatari Riyal p.m., and continued to live in Qatar where he was employed, till he passed away in a motor vehicle accident in India in 1998.

3.2. The Claimants filed a photocopy of the Employment Contract Form dated 10.07.1984 certified by the Indian Embassy at Doha, which records the engagement of the deceased as a labourer by the firm Ali Al Fayyad Trading Contracting Est., Doha on a salary of 750 Qatari Riyal p.m., when he first shifted to Qatar.

3.3. The Claimants also placed on record a letter dated 27.06.1997 purported to have been issued by his employer – the High Speed Group to the Counsellor, New Zealand Consulate for issuance of a visa. It was stated that the General Manager of their company, Mr. Satpal Harbans Singh was intending to spend his annual vacation during June – August 1997 in New Zealand, and had been employed by this organization since 1984, and was now drawing a salary of $ 6,700 p.m. It is relevant to note that this letter was not attested by the Indian Embassy at Doha. 3.4. The Claimants placed on record the Passport of the deceased, which reveals his date of birth as  10.08.1958. The deceased was a little over 40 years of age at the time of the accident.

We have perused the said letter, and are inclined to accept the submission made on behalf of the Insurance Company, that the said document was not attested by the Indian Embassy at Doha, as per the Diplomatic & Consular Offices Oaths and Fees Act, 1948.

The said document was not proved by the Claimants, and cannot form the basis of computing the income of the deceased.

The letter dated 27.06.1997 seems to be suspicious for two other grounds. One, as per the Employment Contract Form dated 21.08.1984 certified by the Indian Embassy at Doha, the deceased was engaged by the firm Ali Al Fayyad Trading Contracting Est., Doha in 1984. The letter dated 27.06.1997 issued by the High Speed Group, stated that the deceased was employed with them since 1984. This leads to a serious doubt about the authenticity of the letter. Furthermore, the salary is mentioned in U.S. Dollars, rather than Qatari Riyal, even though the High Speed Group is a local company in Qatar.

In the absence of any other evidence being produced by the Claimants, the income of the deceased would be required to be computed by taking his base salary at 750 Qatari Riyal p.m. in 1984 as a skilled labourer, as reflected in his Employment Contract Form.

A perusal of the passport entries of the deceased reveal that he had continued to remain in employment for a period of over 14 years in Qatar till he passed away in 1998. He was evidently doing fairly well, since  there are numerous entries of foreign travel in his passport during the 14 years of his stay in Doha. By taking an increment of 10% per annum from 1984 till 1998, the notional income of the deceased could be fixed at 2590 Qatari Riyal p.m., which can be rounded off to 2600 Qatari Riyal p.m. As per the exchange rate prevailing in 1998, 1 Qatari Riyal was equivalent to 12.41 INR. Accordingly, the income of the deceased would work out to 2600 x 12.41 = Rs. 32,266 p.m. i.e. Rs. 3,87,192 p.a. 9.2. Even though in Sarla Verma (supra), it was held that the deduction towards personal and living expenses should be 1/4th, if the number of dependant family members is four, in the present case, we feel that 50% of the income of the deceased would be required to be deducted, since he was living in a foreign country. The deceased had to maintain an establishment there, and incur expenditure for the same in commensurate with the high cost of living in a foreign country. Therefore, we are of the view that the High  Court rightly deducted 50% of his income towards personal and living expenses.