Icici Lombard General Insurance ... vs Smt. Renu & Ors.
2012 Latest Caselaw 6726 Del

*        IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

                                             Date of decision: 23rd November, 2012
+        MAC.APP. 117/2011

         ICICI LOMBARD GENERAL INSURANCE COMPANY LTD.
                                                      ....... Appellant
                       Through: Ms. Suman Bagga, Adv.

                       versus

         SMT. RENU & ORS.                                   ..... Respondents
                       Through: Nemo.
         CORAM:
         HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE G.P.MITTAL

                                JUDGMENT

G. P. MITTAL, J. (ORAL)

CM APPL.18291/2011

1. The cost of `2,000/- imposed on the Appellant by the Registrar vide an order dated 31.08.2012 is waived.

2. The Application stands disposed of.

MAC.APP. 117/2011

3. Since the liability of the Appellant is not disputed, at the request of learned counsel for the Appellant, service of Respondent No.4 is dispensed with.

4. The Appeal is for reduction of compensation of `8,07,880/- awarded by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (the Claims Tribunal) for the death of Kapil, who died in a motor vehicle accident which occurred on 30.03.2007.

5. The Appellant Insurance Company does not challenge the finding on negligence. Thus, the same has attained finality.

6. During inquiry before the Claims Tribunal it was claimed that the deceased was in private service, aged 30 years and was earning `5,000/- per month as salary. No evidence with regard to the deceased's salary was produced. The Claims Tribunal, therefore, assumed the deceased's income to be `3470/- per month, that is, the minimum wages of an unskilled worker as fixed by the Govt. of NCT of Delhi under the Minimum Wages Act, added 50% towards inflation, deducted one-third towards personal and living expenses and applied a multiplier of 17 to compute the loss of dependency as `7,07,880/-.

7. The Claims Tribunal further awarded a sum of `75,000/- towards loss of love and affection, `10,000/- each towards loss of consortium and loss to estate and `5,000/- towards funeral expenses.

8. There is twin challenge to the impugned judgment. First, the addition of 50% towards inflation was not justified. In the absence of any evidence with regard to deceased's further prospects, an addition of only 30% ought to have been made. Reliance is placed on Santosh Devi v. National Insurance Company Ltd. & Ors., 2012 (4) SCALE 559. Second, the compensation of `75,000/- awarded towards loss of love and affection was on the higher side.

9. There is no dispute that the Claimants failed to adduce any evidence with regard to deceased Kapil's income or his profession. Thus, the Claims Tribunal was justified in granting compensation on the basis of minimum wages of an unskilled worker. Addition of 50% could be made where

there is evidence with regard to the same or when the victim is in permanent employment. In the absence of any evidence with regard to the same, an addition of 30% could have been made towards inflation on the basis of the judgment of the Supreme Court in Santosh Devi v. National Insurance Company Ltd. & Ors., 2012 (4) SCALE 559.

10. The loss of dependency thus comes to `6,13,496/- (3470/- + 30% x 2/3 x 12 x 17).

11. The Claims Tribunal awarded a sum of `75,000/- towards loss of love and affection. 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 only ` 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.

12. A sum of `5,000/- was awarded towards funeral expenses. In the absence of any evidence with regard to actual expenditure on funeral, the Courts normally grant a sum of `10,000/-. The amount of `5,000/- awarded towards funeral expenses and raised to `10,000/-.

13. The overall compensation is re-computed as under:-

Sl.No. Compensation under various heads Awarded by this Court

1. Loss of Dependency `6,13,496/-

               2.     Loss of Love & Affection                                  ` 25,000/-

              3.     Loss to Estate (as awarded by the Claims                  ` 10,000/-
                     Tribunal)

              4.     Loss of Consortium (as awarded by the                     ` 10,000/-
                     Claims Tribunal)

              5.     Funeral Expenses                                          ` 10,000/-

                                                            Total             ` 6,68,496/-

14. The compensation is thus reduced from `8,07,880/- to ` 6,68,496/- which shall carry interest @ 7.5% per annum from the date of filing of the Petition till its payment.

15. The excess amount of `1,39,384/- along with proportionate interest and the interest accrued, if any, during the pendency of the Appeal shall be refunded to the Appellant Insurance Company.

16. The compensation awarded shall be disbursed in favour of the Claimants in terms of the order passed by the Claims Tribunal.

17. The statutory deposit of `25,000/- be refunded to the Appellant Insurance Company.

18. The Appeal is allowed in above terms.

19. Pending Applications also stand disposed of.

(G.P. MITTAL) JUDGE NOVEMBER 23, 2012 vk