Darshana Rani And Others vs Mohinder Singh And Others

B.S. Walia, J

[1] Appeal has been filed by the widow and two sons and one daughter of Sukhdev Raj who died in a motor vehicular accident on 24.04.2015.

[2] Prayer is for enhancement of compensation of Rs. 7,73,000/-awarded by the learned Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, Barnala (hereinafter referred to as 'the Tribunal') to the appellants.

[3] Learned counsel for the appellants contended that the appeal was liable to be allowed, award modified, compensation payable enhanced inter alia on the ground that despite entitlement of addition of 10% of the established income of the deceased minus the tax component towards future prospects while working out compensation payable, the same had not been done. Secondly, deduction was wrongly made @ 50% of the income of the deceased towards the personal expenses of the deceased as against requirement of making deduction @ 1/3rd of the income in view of paragraph No.14 of the decision of Hon'ble the Supreme Court in Sarla Verma v. Delhi Transport Corporation, 2009 ACJ 1298, since deceased left behind 3 dependents. Besides, the compensation payable on account of loss of spousal consortium and parental consortium as also funeral expenses and loss of estate was liable to be awarded at the rate of Rs. 1,30,000/- in aggregate in the light of decision of Hon'ble the Supreme Court in National Insurance Company Limited v. Pranay Sethi and others, 2017 (4) RCR (Civil) 1009, Magma General Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Nanu Ram @ Chuhru Ram and others, 2018 (4) RCR (Civil) 333 as well as Vimla Devi and others v. National Insurance Company Ltd. and others 2019 (1) RCR (Civil) 86 as against Rs. 1,25,000/- awarded by the learned Tribunal.

[4] Learned counsel for respondents fairly do not oppose the claim of the appellants.

[5] I have considered the submissions of learned counsel for the parties.

[6] Admittedly, the deceased was 58 years of age. The learned Tribunal took into account the income of the deceased as Rs. 1,50,000/- per annum, applied multiplier of 9 and by making deduction of 50% from the income of the deceased towards his personal expenses, besides, by awarding Rs. 1,00,000/- on account of loss of consortium and Rs. 25,000/- on account of funeral expenses awarded total compensation of Rs. 7,73,000/- along with interest @ 9% per annum.

[7] As paragraph No.61 (iv) of the decision of Hon'ble the Supreme Court in Pranay Sethi's case (Supra) where the deceased was self-employed and between the age group of 50 to 60 years, 10% of the established income minus tax component is to be taken into account towards future prospects while computing the compensation.

Since, in the instant case, the deceased was 58 years of age and was self-employed, therefore, 10% of the established income minus tax component is to be taken into account towards his future prospects while computing the compensation payable.

[8] Likewise, as per paragraph No.61 (viii) of the decision of Hon'ble the Supreme Court in Pranay Sethi's case (Supra), the appellants are entitled to Rs. 15,000/- on account of funeral expenses and Rs. 15,000/- on account of loss of estate.

According, a sum of Rs. 25,000/- awarded on account of funeral expenses is scaled-down to Rs. 15,000/- and like amount is awarded on account of loss of estate.

[9] Likewise, the widow of the deceased is entitled to Rs. 40,000/- on account of loss of spousal consortium in accordance with paragraph No.61 (viii) of the decision in Pranay Sethi's case (Supra) whereas as per paragraph No.8.7 of the decision of Hon'ble the Supreme Court in Magma General Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Nanu Ram @ Chuhru Ram and others, 2018 (4) RCR (Civil) 333, a sum of Rs. 40,000/- is payable to each of the children of the deceased on account of loss of parental consortium. Since, the deceased left behind three children, therefore, apart from sum of Rs. 40,000/- payable to the widow of the deceased on account of loss of spousal consortium, Rs. 1,20,000/- is payable to the children on account of loss of parental consortium. Thus, in totality the widow and three children of the deceased are entitled to award of compensation of Rs. 1,60,000/-.

[10] Faced with the aforementioned position, learned counsel for respondent No.3 - Insurance Company contended that in view of subsequent decision of Hon'ble the Supreme Court in Vimla Devi and others v. National Insurance Company Ltd. and others, 2019 (1) RCR (Civil) 86, the award of compensation on account of loss of spousal/parental consortium in the case of widow and two minor children was restricted to Rs. 1,00,000/-.

Accordingly, in the light of the position as noted above, the compensation on account of loss of spousal and parental consortium to the widow and three minor children of the deceased is restricted to Rs. 1,00,000/-.

[11] Further, as per paragraph No. 14 of the decision of Hon'ble the Supreme Court in Sarla Verma's case (Supra) where number of dependents of the deceased is between 2 to 3, personal expenses of the deceased are to be deducted @ 1/3rd of the income of the deceased.

Since, in the instant case, deceased left behind three dependents, therefore, deduction of personal expenses of the deceased shall be made @ 1/3rd of the income of the deceased while working out compensation payable as against deduction of 50% made by the learned Tribunal.

[12] In the light of the position as noted above, the appellants are held entitled to the following compensation:-

Sr.

Heads

Amount assessed

Amount assessed by

No.

by the Tribunal

the Court

1.

Income

` 1,50,000/-

` 1,50,000/-

(per annum)

(per annum)

but assessed `

12,000/- per month

2.

Future Prospects

Nil

10% of ` 1,50,000/-

=

`15,000/-

3.

Total

Income

` 12,000/-

` 1,50,000/-

Assessed

(per month)

+ ` 15,000/-

= ` 1,65,000/-

(Annual)

4.

Multiplier applied

9

9

5.

Deduction

(towards

50% of ` 12,000/-

1/3rd of ` 1,65,000/-

personal expenses of

` 6,000/-

= ` 55,000/-

deceased)

6.

Dependency (Annual)

` 6,000/- x 12 =

(` 1,65,000/- -

` 72,000/-

` 55,000/-) = `

(Annually)

1,10,000/-

7.

Compensation

` 72,000/- x 9 =

` 1,10,000/- x 9 =

awarded by

applying

` 6,48,000/-

` 9,90,000/-

multiplier

8.

Loss of consortium

` 1,00,000/-

` 40,000/- (widow)

` 40,000/- (to each of

the children of the

deceased i.e. `

1,20,000/-) Total = `

1,60,000/-

Restricted to `

1,00,000/- in view of

decision of Hon'ble

the Supreme Court in

Vimla Devi's case.

10.

Funeral Expenses

` 25,000/-

` 15,000/-

11.

Loss of Estate

NIL

` 15,000/-

12.

Rate of interest

9% per annum

9 % per annum

Total

` 7,73,000/-

` 11,20,000/-

[18] Accordingly, as against compensation of Rs. 7,73,000/- awarded by the Tribunal, the appellants are held entitled to compensation of Rs. 11,20,000/-along with interest @ 9 % per annum with effect from the date of claim petition till date of payment, less payment, if any, made earlier

[19] Needless to mention, the Insurance Company shall deduct income tax liability, if any, qua future prospects in accordance with the decision in Pranay Sethi's case (supra).

[20] Accordingly, appeal is allowed by modifying Award dated 30.04.2016 passed by the learned Tribunal to the extent as noted above. Resultantly, all C.Ms. stand disposed of.