Delhi High Court
Ashish Jain & Ors. vs Balram @ Baliram & Ors on 16 July, 2012
Author: G.P. Mittal
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
Date of decision: 16th July, 2012
+ MAC.APP. 258/2004
ASHISH JAIN & ORS. ..... Appellants
Through: Mr. Navneet Goel, Adv. with
Ms. Suman N. Rawat, Adv.
versus
BALRAM @ BALIRAM & ORS. ..... Respondents
Through: Mr. A.K. Soni, Adv. for R-3.
CORAM:
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE G.P.MITTAL
JUDGMENT
G. P. MITTAL, J. (ORAL)
1. The Appeal is for enhancement of compensation of `3,74,400/-
awarded for the death of Prem Lata Jain who died in a motor
vehicle accident which occurred on 17.10.1996.
2. On appreciation of evidence, the Claims Tribunal found that the
accident was caused because of rash and negligent driving of
the truck No.HR-38A-8285 by the First Respondent. It was
claimed that the deceased was a Post Graduate. She (the
deceased) was taking tuitions and imparting coaching to the
students and was earning `10,000/- per month.
3. PW-1 Ashish Jain deposed that his mother Smt. Prem Lata Jain
used to teach students in batches of 5 to 10 and used to charge
`500/- per month from each of the students.
4. In the absence of filing of any Income Tax Return (ITR) and
appropriate evidence with regard to the deceased's income, the
Claims Tribunal took the notional income of the deceased to be
`3600/- per month as against the Minimum Wages of a
Graduate which were `2437/- per month at the relevant time.
The Claims Tribunal deducted one-third towards the personal
and living expenses and applied the multiplier of '13' to
compute the loss of dependency as `3,74,400/-.
5. Following contentions are raised on behalf of the Appellants:-
(i) The income of the deceased should have been considered
as `10,000/- per month instead of `3600/- per month.
(ii) Addition of 30% should have been made towards the
future prospects / inflation on the basis of Sarla Verma
(Smt.) & Ors. v.Delhi Transport Corporation & Anr.,
(2009) 6 SCC 121; and Santosh Devi v. National
Insurance Company Ltd. & Ors., 2012 (4) SCALE 559.
(iii) Appropriate multiplier at the age of 42 was '14' as
against '13' which was adopted by the Claims Tribunal.
6. It is true that the deceased Prem Lata Jain was a well qualified
lady. She was Post Graduate in Philosophy as also a Science
Graduate from Delhi University. She completed B.Ed. and
M.Ed. from Anna Malai University. The Appellants were
unable to produce any documentary evidence with regard to
coaching being imparted to the students.
7. In the circumstances, the Claims Tribunal was justified in
taking the deceased's income to be `3600/- per month. On
making addition of 30% towards the inflation (per Santosh Devi
v. National Insurance Company Ltd. & Ors., 2012 (4) SCALE
559), deducting one-third towards the personal and living
expenses and applying the multiplier of '14', the loss of
dependency would come to `5,24,160/- (3600/- + 30% x 2/3 x
12 x 14).
8. I would further make a provision of `25,000/- towards loss of
love and affection and `5,000/- each towards funeral expenses
and loss to estate. The overall compensation thus comes to
`5,59,160/-.
9. The enhanced compensation of `1,84,760/- shall carry interest
@ 7.5% per annum from the date of filing of the petition till its
deposit.
10. Respondent No.3 the Oriental Insurance Company Limited is
directed to deposit the enhanced compensation along with
interest in the name of the Claimants in the UCO Bank, Delhi
High Court Branch, New Delhi within six weeks.
11. The compensation along with interest shall be payable to the
three Appellants in equal proportion.
12. Since this accident took place almost 17 years ago, 50% of the
enhanced compensation along with proportionate interest shall
be held in fixed deposit for a period of three years. Rest shall be
released immediately on deposit.
13. The Appeal is allowed in above terms.
14. Pending Applications also stand disposed of.
(G.P. MITTAL)
JUDGE
JULY 16, 2012
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