Chander Bibra & Ors. vs Manwar Singh & Ors

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*       IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

                                   Date of decision: 2nd February, 2012

+       FAO No.27/1995

        CHANDER BIBRA & ORS.                 ..... Appellants
                    Through:            Mr. Navneet Goyal with Ms.
                                        Suman N. Rawat, Advocates
                       versus

        MANWAR SINGH & ORS                          ..... Respondents
                    Through:            Mr. Jatan Sngh, Standing
                                        Counsel for UOI/Respondents
                                        No.5 & 6

        CORAM:
        HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE G.P.MITTAL

                                JUDGMENT

G. P. MITTAL, J.(ORAL)

1. The Appellants seek enhancement of compensation of `3,84,000/- for the death of the Devender Mohan Bibra who died in a motor accident which took place on 08.09.1986.

2. By the impugned judgment, the Tribunal calculated and accepted the deceased's income to be `3,000/- per month. After deducting 1/3rd towards personal living expenses and applying the multiplier of 16 computed the loss of dependency as `3,84,000/-.

3. The Appellants' grievance is that 1/4th of the deceased's income ought to have been deducted towards the personal living expenses considering the number of the dependents including the mother to be four. It is urged that no compensation under non-pecuniary heads was awarded.

4. The Appeal is bound to succeed on these two grounds. After considering the judgments in Sarla Dixit v. Balwant Yadav, (1996) 3 SCC 179 and U.P. SRTC v. Trilok Chandra, (1996) 4 SCC 362, the Supreme Court in Sarla Verma & Ors. v. Delhi Transport Corporation (2009) 6 SCC 121 held that where the number of dependents is 4 to 6 there will be deduction of the 1/4th of the deceased's income towards personal and living expenses. The Tribunal applied the multiplier of 16, though it has to be restricted to 15 as per Sarla Verma(supra). On these principles, the loss of dependency comes to `4,05,000/-(3000 X 12 X 3/4 X X 15). Considering that the accident took place in the year 1986, I would further award a sum of ` 15,000/- towards loss of love and affection, `5,000/- towards consortium, `5,000/- towards funeral expenses and `5,000/- towards loss to estate. The overall compensation comes to `4,35,000/-.

5. The compensation stands enhanced by ` 51,000/- which shall carry interest @ 7.5% per annum from the date of filing of the petition till the disposal of the Appeal. The Respondent No.6 who is the owner of the vehicle is directed to deposit the enhanced amount along with interest within 30 days with the Registrar General of this Court.

6. Since the accident relates to the year 1986, the entire amount on deposit shall be released to the first Appellant.

7. The Appeal is allowed in above terms.

(G.P. MITTAL) JUDGE FEBRUARY 02, 2012 pst FAO. No.27/1995 Page 3 of 3