Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd. vs Pankaj Sharma and Others

J.R. Midha

The appellant has challenged the award of the learned Tribunal whereby compensation of Rs.5,70,000/- has been awarded to claimants/respondents No.1 to 3.

The accident dated 26th March, 2006 resulted in the death of Sharda Devi Sharma. The deceased was survived by her two sons and a daughter who filed the claim petition before the Claims Tribunal.

The deceased was aged 43 years at the time of the accident and was doing the stitching work. The learned Tribunal treated the deceased as housewife and took the value of her services as Rs.3,000/- per month following the judgment of the Hon''ble Supreme Court in the case of Lata Wadhwa and Others Vs. State of Bihar and Others, . The learned Tribunal has applied the multiplier of 15 to compute the loss of dependency at Rs.5,40,000/-. Rs.20,000/- has been awarded towards loss of love and affection and Rs.10,000/- towards funeral expenses. The total compensation awarded is Rs.5,70,000/-.

The learned counsel for the appellant submits that 1/3rd should be deducted from the value of services of the deceased and the multiplier be reduced from 15 to 14. It is well settled by the judgment of the Hon''ble Supreme Court in the case of Lata Wadhwa (supra) that no deduction is permissible from the value of the services of the deceased and, therefore, the learned Tribunal was right in not deducting any amount from the value of the services of the deceased. The deceased was aged 43 years at the time of the accident and the appropriate multiplier according to the judgment of the Hon''ble Supreme Court in the case of Smt. Sarla Verma and Others Vs. Delhi Transport Corporation and Another, is 14 whereas the learned Tribunal has applied the multiplier of 15. The multiplier is, therefore, reduced from 15 to 14.

Taking the value of the services of the deceased to be Rs.3,000/- per month and applying the multiplier of 14, the loss of dependency is computed to be Rs.5,04,000/- (Rs.3,000 x 12 x 14).

The learned Tribunal has not awarded any compensation for loss of estate. Rs.10,000/- is awarded for loss of estate. Adding Rs.10,000/- towards loss of estate, Rs.20,000/- towards loss of love and affection and Rs.10,000/- towards funeral expenses, the total compensation is computed to be Rs.5,44,000/- (Rs.5,04,000 + Rs.10,000 + Rs.20,000 + Rs.10,000).

The appeal is allowed and the award amount is reduced from Rs.5,70,000/- to Rs.5,44,000/- along with interest @7.5% per annum from the date of filing of the petition till realization.

The appellant has deposited the entire award amount along with interest with the Registrar General of this Court in terms of the order dated 17th November, 2008 out of which 75% of the amount has been released to the claimants.

The Registrar General is directed to release the amount payable to the claimants in terms of this judgment. The shares of the claimants in the said amount shall be equal. The balance amount after payment in terms of this judgment along with statutory amount be refunded back to the appellant through counsel within four weeks.

Copy of this order be given ''Dasti'' to learned counsel for the parties under the signature of Court Master.