Delhi High Court
Salma Begum And Ors. vs Vinod Kumar Malhotra And Ors. on 17 September, 2003
Equivalent citations: I (2004) ACC 351, 2003 VIIAD Delhi 522
Author: S Mahajan
Bench: S Mahajan
JUDGMENT
S.K. Mahajan, J.
1. ADMIT.
2. With the consent of the parties, matter has been heard and disposed of by this order.
3. The appellant has filed this appeal for enhancement of compensation for the death of their four year old son who died in a road accident alleged to have been caused by the rash and negligent driving of the vehicle owned by respondent no.1 and insured with respondent no.2. The Tribunal has awarded Rs.1 lakh as compensation in favor of the appellants along with interest @ 9% per annum. Learned counsel for the appellant has relied upon the judgment of the Supreme Court in Lata Wadhwa and others Versus State of Bihar and others 2001 ACJ 1735 to contend that the Supreme court in the case of the death of a child between the age of 5 to 10 years had awarded compensation of Rs.2 lakhs. It is submitted that the compensation, therefore, awarded by the Tribunal need be enhanced.
4. In Lata Wadhwa and others Versus State of Bihar and others (supra) the Court was concerned with the case of death of large number of people who had died in fire which had taken place in a pandal during a ceremony being held at Tata Iron and Steel Company Ltd., Jamshedpur, Bihar. While discussing as to in what manner the compensation is to be awarded to the persons the Court observed that loss of the child to the parents is irrecoupable and no amount of money could compensate the parents. Having regard to the environment from which those children were brought, their parents being reasonably well placed officials of Tata Iron and Steel Company and on considering the submissions of the counsel appearing on behalf of the respondent, the Court directed that the compensation amount for the children between the age group of 5 to10 years should be Rs.1,50,000/- and adding to it the conventional figure of Rs.50,000/- a total compensation of Rs.2 lakhs was awarded for the death of these children. The Supreme Court in that case had not only taken into consideration the status of the parents of the children but even the counsel who had appeared for TISCO had himself offered to enhance the compensation directed to be paid by the Arbitrator to the victims of the accident. In my view, the said judgment cannot be applied to the facts of the present case as it was given in the peculiar facts of that case.
5. The Tribunal has clearly observed in this case that no evidence has been placed on record to show the status of the appellants and no evidence has been produced to show that the deceased was going to school. Father of the child at the relevant time was working in a shop allegedly getting salary of Rs.3000/- per month but the same was also not proved. While awarding compensation, the Tribunal is required to look to the status of the victim of the road accident as well. In my opinion, the award of Rs.1 lakhs for the death of a child of four years in the facts of this case cannot be said to be inadequate or injust. However, the Court ought to have also directed payment of non-pecuniary damages while arriving at the total compensation to be paid to the appellants. Keeping into consideration the Second Schedule to the Motor Vehicles Act, I direct that appellants will be entitled to a sum of Rs.20,000/- being non-pecuniary damages towards loss of affection and funeral expenses etc.
6. Accordingly, this appeal is partly allowed and it is directed that the appellants will be entitled to the total compensation of Rs.1,20,000/- from the respondents. The appellants will also be entitled to interest @ 9% per annum on the enhanced compensation from the date of filing of the application before the Tribunal till payment. The appeal is, accordingly, disposed of with no order as to costs.
