Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd. vs Laxmi Bharti and Others

G.P. Mittal, J.—The Appeal is for reduction of compensation of Rs. 14,54,768/- awarded by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (the Claims Tribunal) for the death of Subhash who died in a motor vehicle accident which occurred on 05.06.2011. The finding on negligence is not challenged by the Appellant Insurance Company; thus the same has attained finality.

During the inquiry before the Claims Tribunal, it was claimed that the deceased was a matriculate and was aged 42 years at the time of the accident. He was a self employed person and was earning Rs. 10,000/- per month. In the absence of any evidence with regard to the deceased''s employment or his income, the Claims Tribunal took minimum wages of a matriculate as Rs. 7,826/- per month, added 50% towards inflation, deducted 1/3rd towards personal and living expenses and applied a multiplier of 14 to compute the loss of dependency as Rs. 13,14,768/-. The Claims Tribunal further awarded a sum of Rs. 25,000/- towards funeral expenses, Rs. 1,00,000/- towards loss of love and affection, Rs. 10,000/- towards loss of consortium and Rs. 5,000/- towards loss to estate.

It is urged by the learned counsel for the Appellant that in this case there was no evidence with regard to the deceased''s future prospects. Even if there would have been any, only 30% addition could have been made on the basis of the report of the Supreme Court in Smt. Sarla Verma and Others Vs. Delhi Transport Corporation and Another, or even towards inflation on the basis of the report of the Supreme Court in Santosh Devi Vs. National Insurance Company Ltd. and Others, . It is further contended that the award of compensation of Rs. 1,00,000/- towards loss of love and affection is on the higher side.

The Appeal must succeed on both the grounds.

Admittedly, the deceased was aged 42 years. Thus, there should have been addition of only 30% towards inflation. The loss of dependency thus comes to Rs. 11,39,465/-( Rs. 7,826/- + 30% x 2/3 x 12 x 14).

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) under the head of loss of love and affection. Thus, I would reduce the compensation under this head to Rs. 25,000/- only.

Consequently, the compensation stands reduced from Rs. 14,54,768/- to Rs. 12,04,465/-.

The excess amount of Rs. 2,50,303/- along with proportionate interest and the interest accrued, if any, during the pendency of the Appeal shall be refunded to the Appellant Insurance Company.

The compensation shall be disbursed/held in fixed deposit in favour of the Respondents No. 1 to 3 in terms of orders passed by the Claims Tribunal.

The Appeal is allowed in above terms.

Statutory amount of Rs. 25,000/-, if any, shall be refunded to the Appellant Insurance Company. Pending Applications stand disposed of.