Poonam Devi vs Dharam Singh

Jitendra Chauhan, J.—Two appeals, as noticed above, are being disposed of by this single judgment, having arisen out of the same impugned Award dated 27.02.2012, passed by the learned Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Panipat (for short, ''the Tribunal''). the learned counsel for the appellant-Poonam, contends that the learned Tribunal erred in applying deduction to the extent of 1/3, the claimants being four in number. It is further contended that the amount awarded under the conventional heads is on the lower side and deserves to be enhanced. Lastly, it is contended that there should have been equal apportionment of the compensation amount.

The learned counsel for appellants-Shanti Devi etc. has also prayed for enhancement of the amount of compensation.

On the other hand, the learned counsel for the respondents have vehemently opposed the present appeals.

I have heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the record.

The death of deceased, Ved Singh, in the accident and his relation with the claimants is not in dispute. Therefore, the dependent claimants being four in number, the learned Tribunal has wrongly deducted 1/3rd out of the income of the deceased on account of his personal expenses. Accordingly, the deduction is decreased from 1/3 to 1/4. In this way, the amount of compensation towards loss of dependency would come to Rs. 25,240/- X 3/4 - Rs. 1,769/- (pension) X 12 X 15 = Rs. 30,88,980/-, (Rounded off to Rs. 30,89,000/-) as against the amount of Rs. 27,18,000/-, assessed by the learned Tribunal. Another amount of Rs. 1,00,000/- is awarded to the appellant-wife, Poonam Devi, towards loss of consortium, whereas, an amount of Rs. 1,00,000/- shall be paid to the children, in equal parts, for ''loss of love, care and guidance''.

As far as the question of apportionment is concerned, it is not in dispute that all the dependent-claimants are Class I legal heirs of the deceased and deserve equal claim. Therefore, it is held that all the dependent-claimants shall be entitled to equal amount of compensation, except where it has been specifically indicated otherwise, i.e. towards loss of consortium to the wife and loss of love care and guidance to the children.

In view of the above, the claimant-appellants are held entitled to the enhanced compensation of Rs. 5,71,000/- [Rs. 3,71,000/- (enhancement on account of loss Of dependency) + Rs. 1,00,000/- (towards loss of consortium payable to the wife, Poonam Devi) + Rs. 1,00,000/- (towards loss of love, care and guidance to the children, payable in equal parts)], over and above the amount already awarded by the learned Tribunal, which shall be payable within a period of 45 days from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this judgment, failing which, they shall also be entitled to interest @ 7,5% per annum, from the date of filing the present appeal, till its realization. With the aforesaid modification in the impugned award, the FAO Nos. 2746 of 2012 and 1278 of 2013, are partly allowed.