Kailash Devi and Another vs Sarwan Kumar and Others

Amarjeet Chaudhary, J.—This judgment will dispose of FAO No. 26 of 1992 filed by Smt. Kailash Devi and another, claimants, for enhancement of the compensation and FAO No. 451 of 1992 filed by Parvinder Singh & others, owners and driver of the offending vehicle No. PCI 4770 for setting aside the award as both these appeals have arisen out of the common award of the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Ferozepur. However, for the purpose of judgment, the facts have been taken from FAO No. 26 of 1992.

The Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Ferozepur (hereinafter referred to as the ''Tribunal'') on a claim petition filed by the parents of the deceased Chander Mohan u/s 110-A of the Motor Vehicles Act, had awarded a sum of Rs. 1,15,200/- as compensation on account of the death of Chander Mohan who died on 26.9.1987 in the road accident.

In F.A.O. No. 26 of 1992, the challenge to the award is that the deceased was 24 years of age at the time of his death. The Tribunal had erred in applying the multiplies of 16. The Tribunal should have applied the multiplier of 20. The other plea raised by the Counsel for the claimants is that the deceased was earning more than Rs. 3000/- but the Tribunal had erred in assessing the income of the deceased at Rs. 900/- per month.

In FAO No. 451 of 1992, the owners and driver of the offending vehicle, have challenged the impugned award on the plea that the Tribunal had wrongly absolved the Insurance Company of its liability to pay compensation to the claimants as the vehicle was insured with the Insurance Company. As such, the liability to pay compensation should not have been fastened on them.

The appellants in FAO No. 451 of 1992 had filed an application Order 41 Rule 27 C.P.C. The additional evidence sought to be produced comprised of certified copy of the Insurance Policy. This application was allowed vide this Court''s order dated 11.1.1994 and the appellants were permitted to lead the additional evidence.

Mr. Pradip Bedi, the learned Counsel for the Insurance Company, contends that the Tribunal had committed no error in assessing the income of the deceased and suitable multiplier was applied.

I have considered the submissions of the Counsel for the parties and perused the paper book.

After having perused the paper-book, I am convinced that the deceased was running a Karyana shop and his monthly income could not be loss than Rs. 1200/-. In these days, even a daily worker gets more than Rs. 50/- per day. As such, I am of the considered view that the monthly income of the deceased would not be less than Rs. 1200/- at the time of his death. Out of this income, the deceased after deducting l/3rd i.e. Rs. 400/- as his personal expenses, would be contributing Rs. 800/- to the claimants. In this manner, the annual dependency of < the deceased on the claimants comes to Rs. 9600/- (i.e. Rs. 800x12). I am also of the view that multiplier of 16 adopted by the Tribunal is in consonance with the ratio of the decision rendered by this Court in Lachhman Singh and Ors. v. Gurmit Kaur and Ors. (1979) 181 P.L.R. 1 in which it was held that for the purpose of calculating the just compensation, annual dependency of the dependents should be determined in terms of the annual loss accruing to them due to the abrupt termination of life. For this purpose, annual earning of the deceased at the time of the accident and the amount out of the same which he was spending for the maintenance of the dependents will be the determining factor. The basic figure will then be multiplied by a suitable multiplier. It was further held that the suitable multiplier shall be determined by taking into consideration the number of years of the dependency of the various dependents, the numbers of years by which the life of the deceased was cut short and the various imponderable factors such like early natural death of the deceased, his becoming incapable of supporting the dependents due to illness or any other natural handicap or calamity, the prospects of the remarriage of the widow, the coming up of age of the dependents and their developing independent sources of income as well as the pecuniary benefits which might accrue to the dependents on account of the death of the person concerned. ..........."

Taking into account the annual income of the deceased i.e. Rs. 9600/- an by applying a multiplier of 16, the total amount of compensation to which the claimants shall be entitled to, comes to Rs. 1,53,600/- with 12% P.A. interest from the date of the claim petition till realisation. Out of the compensation awarded by this Court, the amount of compensation already awarded by the Tribunal is to be adjusted. It is also held that the Insurance Company shall be liable to pay compensation to the claimants as the offending vehicle stood insured with it on the date of the accident.

In view of the foregoing discussion both the appeals are allowed and the award of the Tribunal is modified to the extent indicated above. No order as to costs.