[Cites 4, Cited by 0]
Punjab-Haryana High Court
Amarjeet Kaur And Others vs Bhupesh Kumar Gupta And Another on 16 December, 2025
1 FAO-939-2024 (O&M)
FAO-939-2024 (O&M)
IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA
AT CHANDIGARH
FAO-939-2024 (O&M)
Reserved on: 12.11.2025
Pronounced on: 16.12.2025
Uploaded on: 17.12.2025
AMARJEET KAUR AND OTHERS .....Appellants
Vs.
BHUPESH KUMAR GUPTA AND ANOTHER ...Respondents
CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE HARKESH MANUJA
Present: Mr. Sanjay Jain, Advocate
for the appellants.
Mr. Sandeep Suri, Advocate
for respondent- Insurance Company.
*****
HARKESH MANUJA, J.
1. By way of present appeal, challenge has been laid to an award dated
16.09.2023 passed by the learned Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Ambala (for
brevity, "the Tribunal"), whereby an amount of Rs. 20, 68,710.40/- was awarded
as compensation to the appellants/claimants along with interest @ 9% per annum
from the date of filing of petition till its realization on account of death of
Hukum Chand in a motor vehicular accident, occurred on 29.02.2020.
2. As sole issue for determination in the present appeal is confined to
quantum of compensation awarded by the learned Tribunal, a detailed narration
of the facts of the case is not reproduced and is skipped herein for the sake of
brevity.
ARGUMENTS
ON BEHALF OF LEARNED COUNSEL FOR THE APPELLANTS
3. Learned counsel for the appellants assailed the award by submitting
that the learned Tribunal made wrong assessment of the income of the deceased
despite clear and reliable evidence on record, including the deposition of PW3
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establishing that the deceased was employed as an Accountant/Munim earning
Rs. 22,500/- per month; duly corroborated by Ex.P2, i.e., the statement of
account maintained from 16.04.2019 to 22.02.2020; yet, this material evidence
was not appreciated in its proper perspective. He further argued that the
compensation awarded under conventional heads is inadequate and not in
accordance with settled legal principles laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme
Court. Furthermore, it was submitted that interest awarded at the rate of 9% per
annum was unreasonably low in view of prevailing judicial trends whereby
interest @ 12% per annum was being awarded; thereby depriving the appellants
of fair compensation, therefore, he prayed for enhancement as per latest decision
on the subject.
ON BEHALF OF LEARNED COUNSEL FOR RESPONDENT
No.2/INSURANCE COMPANY.
4. Per contra, learned counsel representing No.2/ Insurance Company
submitted that there was no basis to assess the income of the deceased as Rs.
22,500/- per month as no documentary evidence was available before the learned
Tribunal in support. He thus submitted that the learned Tribunal, therefore,
rightly assessed the income of deceased. Learned counsel further submitted that
in the facts and circumstances of the case, the appellants/claimants were rightly
compensated and, thus the present appeal was liable to be dismissed.
DISCUSSION
5. I have heard learned counsels for the parties and perused the paper-
book of the case. I find force in the arguments advanced by learned Counsel for
the appellants.
QUESTION OF INCOME ASSESSED
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6. In the present case, perusal of the record indicates that deceased-
Hukum Chand, at the time of accident was 35 years of age. He was working as
an Accountant/Munim with M/s Lal Chand Brij Mohan, Shop No. 28, Grain
Market, Saraswati Nagar, Mustafabad (Yamuna Nagar) and was drawing a
salary of Rs. 22,500/- per month. However, learned Tribunal assessed the
income of the deceased @ Rs. 9,313/- per month; nevertheless upon perusal of
ledger alongwith the statement of Manish Goel who appeared as PW-3, it was
proved on record that the deceased was receiving salary and the learned Tribunal
thus, erred while ignoring the same. Therefore, this Court in its humble opinion
and in the facts and circumstances of the present case assesses the income of
deceased as Rs. 22,500/- per month in consonance with the records available on
the file.
7. The Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of "Smt. Sarla Verma and
others vs. Delhi Transport Corporation and another," reported as 2009(3) RCR
(Civil) 77, was pleased to hold that in case the number of dependent family
members were 4 to 6, 1/4th needs to be deducted as personal expenses from the
total income. Relevant para of the judgment is culled out as under:-
"30. Though in some cases the deduction to be made towards
personal and living expenses is calculated on the basis of units
indicated in Trilok Chandra[(1996) 4 SCC 362], the general
practice is to apply standardized deductions. Having considered
several subsequent decisions of this Court, we are of the view
that where the deceased was married, deduction towards
personal and living expenses of the deceased, should be one-third
(1/3rd) where the number of dependent family members is 2 to 3,
one-fourth (1/4th) where the number of dependent family members
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is 4 to 6, and one-fifth (1/5th) where the number of dependent
family member exceeds six."
QUESTION OF COMPENSATION UNDER CONVENTIONAL
HEADS
8. Furthermore, in view of the judgment of the Hon'ble Apex Court in
Smt. Sarla Verma's case (supra), "National Insurance Co. Ltd. vs. Pranay
Sethi and others" reported as (2017) 16 SCC 680 and "United India Insurance
Co.Ltd. vs. Satinder Kaur", reported as (2021) 11 SCC 780, compensation
awarded under conventional heads are also required to be assessed accordingly.
Appellants/claimants are thus, held entitled for Rs. 18,000/- as compensation
under funeral head and Rs. 18,000/- towards loss of estate. Loss of consortium is
assessed to the tune of Rs. 2,40,000/- (Rs. 48,000 x 5) as the appellants, being
spouse, children and parents of deceased are also entitled for spousal, parental
and filial consortium.
9. Now, the question arises how the compensation is to be distributed
among the legal heirs. In this regard, it may be taken into account that from the
material available on record it is evident that appellant No. 1 (widow of
deceased) did not remarry and she along with her minor children solely
dependent upon the deceased, accordingly appellant No. 1 is held entitled for
60% of the compensation amount, whereas appellant No. 2 to 4 be granted the
remaining 40% in equal shares. It may be clarified here that the aforementioned
ratio of 60:40 would be minus the consortium as all the appellants/claimants
shall separately/individually be entitled for consortium in their favour.
CONCLUSION
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10. In view of the discussion made hereinabove, the appellant/claimant
is held entitled for the grant of compensation in the following manner:-
S.No. Nature Amount (in Rs.)
1. Annual Income of Deceased Rs. 2,70,000/-
2. Deduction (1/4th) Rs. 67,500/-
3. Net Income (Rs. 2,70,000 - Rs. 67,500) Rs. 2,02,500/-
4. Future Prospects (40%) Rs. 81,000/-
5. Total Income (2,02,500 + 81,000) Rs. 2,83,500/-
6. Loss of Income after applying multiplier Rs. 45,36,000/-
of 16 as per the age of 35 years (2,83,500 x
16)
7. Loss of estate Rs. 18,000/-
8. Funeral Expenses Rs. 18,000/-
9. Loss of Consortium (48,000 x 5) Rs. 2,40,000/-
10. Total compensation Rs. 48,12,000/-
11. Amount Awarded by the Tribunal Rs. 20, 68,710.40/-
12. Enhanced Compensation Rs. 27,43,289.6/-
Thus, the appellant No. 1/widow is entitled for Rs. 16,45,974/- and
appellant no. 2 to. 4 are entitled for Rs.10,97,315/- in equal proportions as
compensation besides, appellant No. 5 is entitled for Rs. 48,000/- only on
account of loss of consortium.
11. In the view of the observations made by the Hon'ble Supreme Court
in "Smt. Supe Dei and others vs. National Insurance Company Limited and
other, reported as (2009) (4) SCC 513 approved in a subsequent judgment titled
as "Puttamma and others vs. K.L. Narayana Reddy and another, 2014 (1) RCR
(Civil) 443, the grant of interest @ 9% per annum on the amount of
compensation awarded to the claimants from the date of institution of claim
petition till its realization is justified. In case the said amount is not paid within
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three months, the same shall be payable thereafter along with 12% interest from
the expiry of period of three months from today. Needless to mention here that
the amount of compensation already paid to the claimant shall be deducted from
the enhanced compensation.
12. In view of the aforesaid modification, the present appeal stands
disposed of. Pending miscellaneous application(s), if any, shall also stand
disposed of.
December 16, 2025 (HARKESH MANUJA)
Tejwinder JUDGE
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