Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd. vs Ved Prakash Madan & Ors.
2009 Latest Caselaw 4041 Del

32
*       IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

                       +       MAC.APP.No.611/2007

%                                 Date of decision: 07th October, 2009


      ORIENTAL INSURANCE CO. LTD.        ..... Appellant
                    Through : Mr. L.K. Tyagi, Adv.

                      versus

      VED PRAKASH MADAN & ORS.         ..... Respondents
                   Through : Mr. Dushyant Swaroop and
                             Ms. Asha Garg, Advs. for R-1.

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 appellant has challenged the award of the learned

Tribunal whereby compensation of Rs.16,08,928/- has been

awarded to respondent No.1.

2. The accident dated 13th January, 2006 resulted in the death

of Rakesh Madan. The deceased was survived by his father who

filed the claim petition before the learned Tribunal.

3. The deceased was aged 27 years at the time of the accident

and was working as Senior Supervisor (Production) with M/s

Accmee Chemicals at a salary of Rs.11,000/- per month. The

learned Tribunal deducted 1/3rd towards the personal expenses of

the deceased and applied the multiplier of 18 to compute the loss

of dependency at Rs.15,83,928/-. Rs.5,000/- has been awarded

towards the funeral expenses and Rs.20,000/- towards loss of

love and affection. The total compensation awarded is

Rs.16,08,928/-.

4. The learned counsel for the appellant submits that the

deduction towards the personal expenses should be 1/2 instead

of 1/3rd. The learned counsel for the appellant further submits

that the appellant was aged 65 years at the time of the accident

and the appropriate multiplier according to the age of the

appellant is 5.

5. According to the recent judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme

Court in the case of Sarla Verma Vs. Delhi Transport

Corporation, 2009 (6) Scale 129, the appropriate deduction in

the case of death of an unmarried person is 1/2. The deduction

towards the personal expenses of the deceased is, therefore,

enhanced from 1/3rd to 1/2. It is also well settled that the

multiplier has to be taken according to the age of the father who

was 65 years at the time of the accident. According to the

judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Sarla

Verma (supra), the appropriate multiplier at the age of 65 years

is 5. The multiplier is, therefore, reduced from 18 to 5.

6. The learned Tribunal has not taken the future prospects of

the deceased into consideration while computing the

compensation. The deceased was earning Rs.11,000/- per month

at the time of the accident and 50% is added towards the future

prospects. The income of the deceased for computation of

compensation is taken to be Rs.16,500/- (Rs.11,000 + Rs.5,500

towards future prospects). 1/2 is deducted towards personal

expenses of the deceased and the multiplier of 5 is applied to

compute the loss of dependency at Rs.4,95,000/-. The learned

Tribunal has awarded Rs.5,000/- towards the funeral expenses

and Rs.20,000/- towards loss of love and affection which are not

disturbed in the facts and circumstances of this case. The

learned Tribunal has not awarded any compensation towards the

loss of estate. Considering the facts and circumstances of this

case, Rs.30,000/- is awarded towards the loss of estate. The total

compensation payable by the appellant to claimant/respondent

No.1 is computed to be Rs.5,50,000/- (Rs.4,95,000 + Rs.5,000

towards funeral expenses + Rs.20,000 towards loss of love and

affection and Rs.30,000/- towards loss of estate).

7. The appeal is allowed and the award amount is reduced

from Rs.16,08,928/- to Rs.5,50,000/- along with interest @7.5%

per annum from the date of filing of the petition till realization.

8. The appellant has deposited the entire award amount along

with interest in terms of the order dated 8 th October, 2007 out of

which a sum of Rs.5,00,000/- has been released to respondent

No.1. Respondent No.1 has also received the interim

compensation of Rs.50,000/-. As such the entire principal award

amount has already been received by respondent No.1. The

interest on Rs.5,00,000/- from the date of filing of the petition till

payment of Rs.5,00,000/- to respondent No.1 be released by the

Registry to respondent No.1. The remaining amount along with

statutory amount of Rs.25,000/- be released to the appellant

through counsel within four weeks.

9. Copy of this order be given 'Dasti' to learned counsel for the

parties under the signature of Court Master.

J.R. MIDHA, J

OCTOBER 07, 2009 aj