National Insurance Co. Ltd. vs Samida Khatoon Ors.

G. P. Mittal, J.—The Appeal is for reduction of compensation of Rs. 30,14,800/- awarded for the death of Shamsher Alam who died in an accident which occurred on 26.12.2009. During the course of arguments, following contentions are raised:-

(i) The Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (the Claims Tribunal) erred in taking deceased''s age to be 31 years. One of the married daughters of the deceased was aged about 23 years and thus the deceased could not have been aged 31 years.

(ii) The future prospects should not have been awarded as the deceased was not in Govt. service, and

(iii) The award of compensation of Rs. 2,25,000/- towards the loss of love and affection is exorbitant.

On the other hand, it is urged by the learned counsel for the Respondents/the Claimants that the deceased''s age was shown 31 years in the Passport but the same was not challenged before the Claims Tribunal. In the grounds of Appeal, it has not been specifically averred that the age of the deceased was not 31 years.

The Respondents (Claimants) never claimed the deceased''s age to be 31 years. Rather in the Claim Petition his age was mentioned as 38 years. Even in the postmortem report, the age was stated to be 38 years and thus the multiplier of 15 should have been adopted by the Claims Tribunal.

I have perused the record.

It is not disputed that the deceased had seven children including two married daughters. The age of one of the married daughters in the list of relations filed before the Claims Tribunal was mentioned as 23 years. It should have been taken as 38 years as mentioned in the postmortem report.

In order to prove the deceased''s salary and nature of his employment Respondents No. 1 to 9 examined PW-3 S.B. Sharma who testified that the deceased was working as Pattern and Cutting Master and was getting a salary of Rs. 12,000/-per month. He further stated that he(the deceased) was a permanent employee and was entitled to annual increment. Thus, following the judgment in Smt. Sarla Verma and Others Vs. Delhi Transport Corporation and Another, the Claims Tribunal rightly made addition of 50% of the deceased''s income towards the future prospects.

The Claims Tribunal awarded a sum of Rs. 2,25,000/- i.e. Rs. 25,000/- per person to the legal representatives towards loss of love and affection. 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 only Rs. 25,000/- (in total to all the claimants) under the head of loss of love and affection. Thus, I would reduce the compensation under this head from Rs. 2,25,000/- to Rs. 25,000/- only.

Considering the deceased''s age to be 38 years, the Claims Tribunal ought to have selected the multiplier of ''15'' instead of ''16''. The loss of dependency is recomputed as Rs. 25,92,000/- ( Rs. 12,000/- + 50% x 4/5 x 12 x 15).

The compensation payable to Respondents No. 1 to 9 is recomputed as under:-

Sl. No.

Compensation under various heads

Awarded by the Claims Tribunal

Awarded by this Court

1.

Loss of Dependency

Rs. 27,64,800/-

Rs. 25,92,000/-

2.

Loss to Estate

Rs. 10,000/-

Rs. 10,000/-

2.

Loss of Consortium

Rs. 10,000/-

Rs. 10,000/-

3.

Funeral Expenses

Rs. 5,000/-

Rs. 5,000/-

3.

Loss of Love & Affection

Rs. 2,25,000/-

Rs. 25,000/-

Total

Rs. 30,14,800/-

Rs. 26,42,000/-

The compensation of Rs. 26,42,000/- awarded to the Respondents No. 1 to 9 shall carry interest @ 7.5% per annum from the date of filing of the petition till the date of payment. The same shall be apportioned as under:-

1.

Samida Khatoon (wife)

Rs. 5,67,000/-

2.

Salatun (daughter)

Rs. 3,00,000/-

3.

Lailatun (daughter)

Rs. 3,00,000/-

4.

Tabassum (daughter)

Rs. 3,00,000/-

5.

Hasmatun (daughter)

Rs. 3,00,000/-

6.

Asrun (daughter)

Rs. 3,00,000/-

7.

Nasarun (daughter)

Rs. 3,00,000/-

8.

Md. Isaq (father)

Rs. 25,000/-

9.

Jamila Khatoon (mother)

Rs. 2,50,000/-

TOTAL

Rs. 26,42,000/-

The excess amount of Rs. 3,72,800/- alongwith interest if any, accrued during the pendency of the Appeal shall be refunded to the Appellant Insurance Company.

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