Rajwinder Kaur vs Rajinder Singh

K. Kannan, J.—Both the appeals are connected arising out of the same accident. The appeal in FAO No. 1619 of 2000 is for death of a male aged 37 years in a motor accident that took place on 25.11.1997. He was said to be an agriculturist and doing dairy farming earning Rs. 15,000/- per month. The claimants were widow, two minor children and mother. The Tribunal took the income of the deceased as Rs. 3000/- per month and assessed a compensation of Rs. 2,65,000/-.

I will take the income of the deceased at Rs. 3,000/- as taken by the Tribunal, make a deduction of 1/4th and apply a multiplier of 15 to assess the loss of dependence at Rs. 4,05,000/-. I will rework the compensation and tabulate the various heads of claim as under:-

The shall be an award of Rs. 6,17,500/-. The amount in excess over what has already been provided by the Tribunal shall also attract interest @7.5% from the date of petition till the date of payment. The enhanced amount shall be distributed amongst the claimants in the ratio of 2:2:2:1. The liability shall be in the same manner as determined by the Tribunal.

The award stands modified and the appeal in FAO No. 1619 of 2000 is allowed to the above extent.

The appeal in FAO No. 1621 of 2000 is for enhancement of claim for compensation for death of a male aged 27 years. He was said to be a businessman earning Rs. 5000/- per month. The claimants were widow, two minor children and mother in law. The Tribunal took the income of the deceased as Rs. 3500/- per month and applied a multiplier of 16 to assess the compensation payable at Rs. 4,73,000/-. At the trial, it was brought through evidence that Sunder Lal-deceased was running a shop of spare parts in Bhawanigarh. In the cross-examination, the widow explained that he was selling the spare parts of tubewell. Photocopy of the acknowledgment of the income tax return filed for the year 1996-97 showed that his income was Rs. 42,270/- per annum. I will take the same and also provide for prospect of future increase at 50%. I will make a deduction of 1/4th and adopt a multiplier of 17 to assess the loss of dependence at Rs. 8,08,414/-. I will tabulate the various heads of claim as under:-

There shall be an award of Rs. 10,20,914/-. The amount in excess over what has already been provided by the Tribunal shall also attract interest @7.5% from the date of petition till the date of payment. The enhanced amount shall be distributed amongst the claimants in the ratio of 2:2:2:1. The liability shall be in the same manner as determined by the Tribunal.

The award stands modified and the appeal in FAO No. 1621 of 2000 is allowed to the above extent.