Cholamandalam Ms General Ins Co. Ltd. vs Sushma Rani and Others

G.P. Mittal, J.—The Appellant, Cholamandalam MS General INS. Co. Ltd. seeks reduction of compensation of Rs. 9,57,000/- awarded for the death of Sidharth Chaudhary who died in a motor accident which occurred on 30.12.2009. During inquiry before the Claims Tribunal, it was established that the deceased was working as a Sales Executive in Triveni Sales Corporation since 05.07.2009 (i.e. about five months prior to the accident) and was getting a salary of Rs. 7,000/- per month. The Claims Tribunal took the deceased''s income to be Rs. 7,000/-, added 50% thereof towards future prospects, applied the multiplier of 14 relevant to the age of the deceased''s mother and deducted half towards the personal and living expenses to compute the loss of dependency as Rs. 8,82,000/-. The Claims Tribunal awarded a sum of Rs. 25,000/- towards funeral expenses and Rs. 50,000/- towards loss of love and affection.

The contentions raised on behalf of the Appellant Insurance Company are:

i) That the Claims Tribunal erred in granting future prospects in spite of the fact that there is no evidence adduced for the same by the Respondents No.1 and 2.

ii) That the award of compensation of Rs. 50,000/- towards love and affection is on the higher side.

The Appeal is bound to succeed on both the counts.

The Respondents No.1 to 3 proved the documents Exhibits PW2/1 to PW2/5 to establish that the deceased was employed as a Sales Executive with Triveni Sales Corporation and he was getting a salary of Rs. 7,000/- per month since the date of his employment. No evidence was adduced to show that the deceased was a permanent employee of Triveni Sales Corporation or that he had bright future prospects. The appointment letter Ex.PW2/3 simply shows that he was granted a salary of Rs. 7,000/- per month excluding conveyance. In the absence of any evidence with regard to the future prospects, the Respondents No.1 to 3 were not entitled to any addition on account of future prospects. Thus, the loss of dependency comes to Rs. 5,88,000/- ( Rs. 7000 X 12 X 1/2 X 14).

The 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 and Others Vs. Bachitar Singh and Others, and in Baby Radhika Gupta and Others Vs. Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd. and Others, granted Rs. 25,000/- (in total to all the claimants) only under the head of loss of love and affection. Thus, I would reduce the compensation under this head to Rs. 25,000/- only. The amount awarded towards funeral expenses has not been challenged.

The compensation is recomputed as under:

Sl.

No.

Compensation under

various heads

Awarded by

the Claims

Tribunal

Awarded by

this Court

1.

Loss of Dependency

Rs. 8,82,000/-

Rs. 5,88,000/-

2.

Funeral Expenses

Rs. 25,000/-

Rs. 25,000/-

3.

Loss of Love & Affection

Rs. 50,000/-

Rs. 25,000/-

Total

Rs. 9,57,000/-

Rs. 6,38,000/-

The amount payable to the Respondents No.1 and 2 shall be released to them in terms of the orders passed by the Claims Tribunal.

The excess amount of Rs. 3,19,000/- along with proportionate interest and the interest accrued during the pendency of the Appeal shall be refunded by the State Bank of India, District Court Saket Branch to the Appellant Insurance Company.

The Appeal is allowed in above terms. The statutory amount of Rs. 25,000/- shall be refunded to the Appellant Insurance Company.