Barnabas Yuhanna & Anr. vs Narayan Chaudhary & Ors.
2009 Latest Caselaw 2575 Del

35
*IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

                +       MAC.APP.No.1009-10/2006

                                 Date of Decision: 13th July, 2009
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      BARNABAS YUHANNA & ANR.      ..... Appellants
                   Through : Mr. I.C. Mishra and
                             Mr. Tarun Kumar Tyagi,
                             Advs.

                    versus

      NARAYAN CHAUDHARY & ORS. ..... Respondents
                  Through : Ms. Varsha Pathak, Adv. for
                            Mr. Mohan Babu Aggarwal,
                            Adv. for R-3.

CORAM :-
THE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE J.R. MIDHA

1.      Whether Reporters of Local papers may              Yes
        be allowed to see the Judgment?

2.      To be referred to the Reporter or not?             Yes

3.      Whether the judgment should be                     Yes
        reported in the Digest?


                         JUDGMENT (Oral)

1. The appellants have challenged the award of the

learned Tribunal whereby compensation of Rs.8,42,000/- has

been awarded to the appellants. The appellants seek

enhancement of the award amount.

2. The accident dated 5th June, 2004 resulted in the death

of Ashok Masih aged 25 years at the time of the accident.

The deceased was survived by his parents who filed the

claim petition before the learned Tribunal.

3. The deceased was working as Technician (Radio

therapy) Grade II with AIIMS and was earning Rs.12,053/- per

month. The learned Tribunal deducted 1/2 towards the

personal expenses of the deceased and applied the multiplier

of 11 considering the age of the father to be 54 years and

the age of the mother to be 51 years. The loss of

dependency was computed at Rs.7,92,000/-. Rs.15,000/- has

been awarded towards loss of estate, Rs.25,000/- towards

loss of love and affection and Rs.10,000/- towards funeral

expenses. The total compensation awarded is Rs.8,42,000/-.

4. The appellants have raised the following grounds at the

time of the hearing of this appeal:-

(i) The age of the parents of the deceased at the time of

the accident was 45 years and 48 years and the appropriate

multiplier according to the age of the mother is 14.

(ii) The future prospects of the deceased be taken into

consideration.

(iii) The rate of interest be enhanced from 6% to 9% per

annum.

5. With respect to the age of the parents of the deceased,

the appellants have placed on record their election cards

which were proved as Ex.PW1/B and Ex.PW2/B. Ex.PW1/B is

the election card of appellant No.1 who was aged 38 years as

on 1st January, 1994. Ex.PW2/B is the election card of

appellant No.2 who was aged 35 years as on 31st January,

1994. The age of the mother and the father of the deceased

as on the date of accident was 48 and 45 years respectively.

The appropriate multiplier according to the age of the mother

in terms to the recent judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme

Court in the case of Sarla Verma Vs. Delhi Transport

Corporation, 2009 (6) Scale 129 is 14 and, therefore, the

learned Tribunal was in error in applying the multiplier of 11.

6. The learned Tribunal has not taken future prospects of

the deceased into consideration. The deceased was working

with AIIMS as Technician (Radio therapy) Grade-II. The

deceased was appointed on 2nd November, 2002 and had

completed almost 19 months of service at the time of the

accident. Though the service of the appellant was temporary

but PW-5 appeared on behalf of AIIMS and submitted that the

deceased's service could be confirmed and, therefore, the

service of the deceased is treated to be permanent.

Following the recent judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court

in the case of Sarla Verma (supra), 50% of the salary is

added towards the future prospects of the deceased. The

income of the deceased for the purpose of computation of

compensation is taken to be Rs.18,000/- (Rs.12,000 +

Rs.6,000).

7. Taking the income of the deceased to be Rs.18,000/-,

deducting 50% towards the personal expenses of the

deceased and applying the multiplier of 14, the loss of

dependency is computed to be Rs.15,12,000/-(Rs.18,000 -

Rs.9,000 x 12 x 14). Adding Rs.25,000/- towards loss of love

and affection, Rs.10,000/- towards funeral expenses and

Rs.15,000/- towards loss of estate, the total compensation

payable to the appellants is computed to be Rs.15,62,000/-.

8. The learned Tribunal has awarded interest @6% per

annum on the award amount. Following the judgment of the

Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Dharampal vs. U.P.

State Road Transport Corporation, III 2008 ACC (1) SC, the

rate of interest is enhanced from 6% to 7.5% per annum.

9. The appeal is allowed and the award amount is

enhanced from Rs.8,42,000/- to Rs.15,62,000/- along with

interest @7.5% from the date of filing of the petition till

payment. Respondent No.3 is directed to deposit the

enhanced amount along with interest thereon with the UCO

Bank A/c Barnabas Yuhana, Delhi High Court Branch within

30 days.

10. The order with respect to the disbursement of the

award amount shall be passed on 26th August, 2009.

11. Copy of this order be given 'Dasti' to learned counsel

for the parties under signatures of Court Master.

J.R. MIDHA, J

JULY 13, 2009 aj