Delhi High Court
Oriental Insurance Co Ltd vs Pankaj Sharma And Ors on 9 February, 2010
Author: J.R. Midha
38
*IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
+ MAC.APP.No.553/2008
Date of Decision: 9th February, 2010
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ORIENTAL INSURANCE CO LTD ..... Appellant
Through : Mr. L.K. Tyagi, Adv.
versus
PANKAJ SHARMA AND ORS ..... Respondents
Through : Mr. Navneet Goyal, Adv. for
R-1 to 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 appellant has challenged the award of the learned
Tribunal whereby compensation of Rs.5,70,000/- has been
awarded to claimants/respondents No.1 to 3.
2. The accident dated 26th March, 2006 resulted in the
death of Sharda Devi Sharma. The deceased was survived
by her two sons and a daughter who filed the claim petition
before the Claims Tribunal.
3. The deceased was aged 43 years at the time of the
accident and was doing the stitching work. The learned
Tribunal treated the deceased as housewife and took the
value of her services as Rs.3,000/- per month following the
judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Lata
Wadhwa vs. State of Bihar, AIR 2001 SC 3218. The
learned Tribunal has applied the multiplier of 15 to compute
the loss of dependency at Rs.5,40,000/-. Rs.20,000/- has
been awarded towards loss of love and affection and
Rs.10,000/- towards funeral expenses. The total
compensation awarded is Rs.5,70,000/-.
4. The learned counsel for the appellant submits that 1/3 rd
should be deducted from the value of services of the
deceased and the multiplier be reduced from 15 to 14. It is
well settled by the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in
the case of Lata Wadhwa (supra) that no deduction is
permissible from the value of the services of the deceased
and, therefore, the learned Tribunal was right in not
deducting any amount from the value of the services of the
deceased. The deceased was aged 43 years at the time of
the accident and the appropriate multiplier according to the
judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Sarla
Verma Vs. Delhi Transport Corporation, 2009 (6) Scale
129 is 14 whereas the learned Tribunal has applied the
multiplier of 15. The multiplier is, therefore, reduced from 15
to 14.
5. Taking the value of the services of the deceased to be
Rs.3,000/- per month and applying the multiplier of 14, the
loss of dependency is computed to be Rs.5,04,000/-
(Rs.3,000 x 12 x 14).
6. The learned Tribunal has not awarded any
compensation for loss of estate. Rs.10,000/- is awarded for
loss of estate. Adding Rs.10,000/- towards loss of estate,
Rs.20,000/- towards loss of love and affection and
Rs.10,000/- towards funeral expenses, the total
compensation is computed to be Rs.5,44,000/- (Rs.5,04,000
+ Rs.10,000 + Rs.20,000 + Rs.10,000).
7. The appeal is allowed and the award amount is reduced
from Rs.5,70,000/- to Rs.5,44,000/- 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 with the Registrar General of this Court in
terms of the order dated 17th November, 2008 out of which
75% of the amount has been released to the claimants.
9. The Registrar General is directed to release the amount
payable to the claimants in terms of this judgment. The
shares of the claimants in the said amount shall be equal.
The balance amount after payment in terms of this judgment
along with statutory amount be refunded back to the
appellant through counsel within four weeks.
10. Copy of this order be given 'Dasti' to learned counsel
for the parties under the signature of Court Master.
J.R. MIDHA, J
FEBRUARY 09, 2010/aj
