Delhi High Court
Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd. vs Laxmi Bharti & Ors. on 18 December, 2012
Author: G.P. Mittal
$ 2
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
Date of decision: 18th December, 2012
+ MAC. APP. 331/2012
ORIENTAL INSURANCE CO. LTD. ..... Appellant
Through: Mr. Pradeep Gaur with Mr. Amit Gaur,
Advocates.
Versus
LAXMI BHARTI & ORS. ..... Respondents
Through: None
CORAM:
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE G.P.MITTAL
JUDGMENT
G. P. MITTAL, J. (ORAL)
1. The Appeal is for reduction of compensation of `14,54,768/- awarded by
the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal(the Claims Tribunal) for the death of
Subhash who died in a motor vehicle accident which occurred on
05.06.2011.
2. The finding on negligence is not challenged by the Appellant Insurance
Company; thus the same has attained finality.
3. During the inquiry before the Claims Tribunal, it was claimed that the
deceased was a matriculate and was aged 42 years at the time of the
accident. He was a self employed person and was earning `10,000/- per
month. In the absence of any evidence with regard to the deceased's
employment or his income, the Claims Tribunal took minimum wages of
a matriculate as `7,826/- per month, added 50% towards inflation,
deducted 1/3rd towards personal and living expenses and applied a
multiplier of 14 to compute the loss of dependency as `13,14,768/-. The
Claims Tribunal further awarded a sum of `25,000/- towards funeral
expenses, `1,00,000/- towards loss of love and affection, `10,000/-
towards loss of consortium and `5,000/- towards loss to estate.
4. It is urged by the learned counsel for the Appellant that in this case there
was no evidence with regard to the deceased's future prospects. Even if
there would have been any, only 30% addition could have been made on
the basis of the report of the Supreme Court in Sarla Verma & Ors. v.
Delhi Transport Corporation & Anr, (2009) 6 SCC 121 or even towards
inflation on the basis of the report of the Supreme Court in Santosh Devi
v. National Insurance Company Ltd. & Ors., 2012 (4) SCALE 559. It is
further contended that the award of compensation of `1,00,000/- towards
loss of love and affection is on the higher side.
5. The Appeal must succeed on both the grounds.
6. Admittedly, the deceased was aged 42 years. Thus, there should have
been addition of only 30% towards inflation. The loss of dependency
thus comes to `11,39,465/-(`7,826/- + 30% x 2/3 x 12 x 14).
7. Loss of love and affection can never be measured in terms of money.
Thus, uniformity has to be adopted by the Courts while granting non-
pecuniary damages. The Supreme Court in Sunil Sharma v. Bachitar
Singh (2011) 11 SCC 425 and in Baby Radhika Gupta v. Oriental
Insurance Company Limited (2009) 17 SCC 627 granted ` 25,000/- (in
total to all the claimants) under the head of loss of love and affection.
Thus, I would reduce the compensation under this head to `25,000/- only.
8. Consequently, the compensation stands reduced from `14,54,768/- to
`12,04,465/-.
9. The excess amount of `2,50,303/- along with proportionate interest and
the interest accrued, if any, during the pendency of the Appeal shall be
refunded to the Appellant Insurance Company.
10. The compensation shall be disbursed/held in fixed deposit in favour of
the Respondents No.1 to 3 in terms of orders passed by the Claims
Tribunal.
11. The Appeal is allowed in above terms.
12. Statutory amount of `25,000/-, if any, shall be refunded to the Appellant
Insurance Company.
13. Pending Applications stand disposed of.
(G.P. MITTAL)
JUDGE
DECEMBER 18, 2012
pst
