Chander Bibra and Others vs Manwar Singh and Others

G.P. Mittal, J.—The Appellants seek enhancement of compensation of Rs. 3,84,000/- for the death of the Devender Mohan Bibra who died in a motor accident which took place on 08.09.1986.

By the impugned judgment, the Tribunal calculated and accepted the deceased''s income to be Rs. 3,000/- per month. After deducting 1/3rd towards personal living expenses and applying the multiplier of 16 computed the loss of dependency as Rs. 3,84,000/-.

The Appellants'' grievance is that 1/4th of the deceased''s income ought to have been deducted towards the personal living expenses considering the number of the dependents including the mother to be four. It is urged that no compensation under non-pecuniary heads was awarded.

The Appeal is bound to succeed on these two grounds. After considering the judgments in Smt. Sarla Dixit and another Vs. Balwant Yadav and others, and U.P. State Road Transport Corporation and Others Vs. Trilok Chandra and Others, , the Supreme Court in Smt. Sarla Verma and Others Vs. Delhi Transport Corporation and Another, held that where the number of dependents is 4 to 6 there will be deduction of the 1/4th of the deceased''s income towards personal and living expenses. The Tribunal applied the multiplier of 16, though it has to be restricted to 15 as per Sarla Verma (supra). On these principles, the loss of dependency comes to Rs. 4,05,000/-(3000 X 12 X 3/4 X 15). Considering that the accident took place in the year 1986, I would further award a sum of Rs. 15,000/- towards loss of love and affection, Rs. 5,000/- towards consortium, Rs. 5,000/- towards funeral expenses and Rs. 5,000/- towards loss to estate. The overall compensation comes to Rs. 4,35,000/-.

The compensation stands enhanced by Rs. 51,000/- which shall carry interest @ 7.5% per annum from the date of filing of the petition till the disposal of the Appeal. The Respondent No.6 who is the owner of the vehicle is directed to deposit the enhanced amount along with interest within 30 days with the Registrar General of this Court.

Since the accident relates to the year 1986, the entire amount on deposit shall be released to the first Appellant.

The Appeal is allowed in above terms.