UNREPORTED
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
+ FAO 277/2000
SMT. SIYA WATI & ORS. ..... Appellants
Through: Mr. Navneet Goyal, Advocate
versus
VINOD KUMAR & ORS. ..... Respondents
Through: None
% Date of Decision : May 18, 2011
CORAM:
HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE REVA KHETRAPAL
1. Whether reporters of local papers may be allowed
to see the judgment?
2. To be referred to the Reporter or not?
3. Whether judgment should be reported in Digest?
JUDGMENT
: REVA KHETRAPAL, J.
1. By way of this appeal, the appellants seek enhancement of the compensation awarded to them by the Motor Accidents Claims FAO 277/2000 Page 1 of 5 Tribunal by its judgment and award dated 22nd March, 2000 on account of the death of Shri Chand Singh in a road accident.
2. The sole submission of Mr. Navneet Goyal, the learned counsel for the appellants, is that a very meagre amount of compensation was awarded by the learned Claims Tribunal by adopting a wrong method of calculating the loss of dependency of the appellants, who are the widow of the deceased, his six children and his father. According to him, after calculating the monthly earnings of the deceased, who was a teacher in Government High School in Jharsa, Gurgaon, to be in the sum of ` 6,600/- per month (after deduction of tax and after taking into account his anticipated future earnings), the Claims Tribunal erred in deducting 1/3rd of the aforesaid amount for the personal expenses of the deceased himself. It is contended by the learned counsel for the appellants that the deduction in the instant case, keeping in view the fact that the deceased had 8 dependents, ought not to have been more than 1/5th of the total earnings of the deceased as it is inconceivable that the deceased was spending 1/3rd of his income on his own upkeep when he had 8 dependent family FAO 277/2000 Page 2 of 5 members. It is further submitted by the learned counsel for the appellants that after calculating the annual loss of dependency of the appellants, the learned Claims Tribunal ought to have applied the multiplier of 15 instead of the multiplier of 12 keeping in view the fact that the deceased fell in the age group of victims between 40 and 45 years of age. Finally, the learned counsel contended that the Claims Tribunal apart from awarding pecuniary compensation to the appellants ought to have awarded non-pecuniary damages to the appellants towards the loss of consortium, the loss of love and affection of the deceased, the loss of the estate of the deceased and the funeral expenses of the deceased.
3. At this juncture, it may be mentioned that after admission of the appeal on July 25, 2000, notice of the appeal was duly served, but despite service of notice, the respondent No.3 - Insurance Company did not care to contest the case and none appeared on behalf of the Insurance Company to advance arguments in rebuttal.
4. After hearing the learned counsel for the appellants and perusing the records, I am of the considered opinion that the award FAO 277/2000 Page 3 of 5 amount deserves to be enhanced in the instant case in consonance with the law laid down by the Supreme Court time and again. Mr. Goyal's contention that the deduction made from the earnings of the deceased towards the personal expenses and maintenance of the deceased ought not to have been more than 1/5th of his total earnings appears to be justified as also his contention that the multiplier should have been the multiplier of 15, instead of the multiplier of 12. I also find his prayer that the appellants are entitled to the award of non- pecuniary damages under the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, to be justified.
5. On a re-calculation of the compensation, on the assumption that the income of the deceased was ` 6,600/- per month as determined by the Claims Tribunal, the total loss of dependency of the appellants works out to ` 9,50,400/-, that is, ` 6,600/- x 4/5 x 12 x 15. The appellants are accordingly held entitled to receive the aforesaid amount towards the loss of dependency. Apart from this, the appellants are held entitled to receive a sum of ` 10,000/- towards the loss of consortium, ` 10,000/- towards loss of love and affection, ` FAO 277/2000 Page 4 of 5 10,000/- towards the loss of estate of the deceased and ` 5,000/- towards the funeral expenses of the deceased. Interest on the aforesaid amount as awarded by the Tribunal at the rate of 12% per annum shall also be payable from the date of the filing of the petition till its realisation. The awarded amount shall be apportioned between the appellants in the ratio fixed by the Claims Tribunal. The entire shares of the appellants No.2 to 7 shall be kept in Fixed Deposits till they attain the age of majority, (in case the said respondents are minors) against which no loan or advance shall be sanctioned without the prior permission of the Claims Tribunal.
The appeal is allowed in the aforesaid terms and stands disposed of.
REVA KHETRAPAL (JUDGE) May 18, 2011 km FAO 277/2000 Page 5 of 5