Puran Chand & Anr vs Abhay Kumar & Ors
2012 Latest Caselaw 1415 Del

*       IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

                                       Reserved on: 9th February, 2012
                                    Pronounced on: 29th February, 2012

+       MAC. APP. No.743/2011

        PURAN CHAND & ANR                     ..... Appellants
                    Through:            Mr. Manish Maini, Advocate

                           Versus

        ABHAY KUMAR & ORS                              .... Respondents
                    Through:            Mr. K.L. Nandwani, Advocate
                                        for the Respondent No.3
                                        Insurance Company

        CORAM:
        HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE G.P.MITTAL


                            JUDGMENT

G. P. MITTAL, J.

1. The Appellants who are the parents of the deceased Kamal Kashyap seek enhancement of compensation of `7,12,000/- awarded for his death in a motor accident which took place on 25.10.2010.

2. The deceased was working as a Branch Officer with M/s. GIR Logistics Pvt. Ltd. since June, 2008. Thus, he had worked with the company for a period of two years and four months before his death. The DAR(Detailed Accident Report) was converted into a Claim Petition under Section 166 Sub-section 4 of the Motor Vehicles Act. The documents including the salary

certificate having been admitted by the Respondent Insurance Company, the Claims Tribunal took the deceased's income to be `8,000/- per month; deducted 50% towards personal and living expenses and applied the multiplier of 14 to compute the loss of dependency as `6,72,000/-.

3. The sole contention raised during the course of the Appeal is that although it was established from the documents filed with DAR(Detailed Accident Report) that the deceased was in employment since June, 2008, yet his future prospects were not considered. A perusal of the salary slip shows that the deceased was making contribution towards Provident Fund and ESI. He was having stable employment with a good company, namely, M/s GIR Logistics Pvt. Ltd. Thus, in view of the report of the Supreme Court in Sarla Verma & Ors. v. Delhi Transport Corporation & Anr, (2009) 6 SCC 121, the Appellants were entitled to the addition of 50% in the deceased's income to compute the loss of dependency. The loss of dependency thus comes to `10,08,000/- (`8000 + 50% ÷ 1/2 X 12 X 14). On addition of the conventional sum of `40,000/- towards loss of love and affection, loss to estate and

funeral expenses as awarded by the Claims Tribunal, the overall compensation is enhanced to `10,48,000/-.

4. The enhanced compensation of `3,76,000/- shall carry interest @ 7.5% per annum from the date of treating DAR as a Claim Petition i.e. 13.12.2010 till the date of payment.

5. The Respondent No.3 Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company Ltd. is directed to deposit the enhanced amount along with interest within 30 days with the Registrar General of this Court.

6. 25% of the enhanced amount along with proportionate interest shall be released to the First Appellant forthwith on deposit. Rest of the amount shall be released/held in a Fixed Deposit in favour of the Second Appellant for a period of three years.

7. The Appeal is allowed in above terms.

(G.P. MITTAL) JUDGE FEBRUARY 29, 2012 pst