(O&M) Neelam Soni And ORS v. Jai Parkash And ORS

-1IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Date of decision:- 04.11.2015 Neelam Soni and others ...Appellants

Versus

Parkash and others

...Respondents

CORAM:

HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE RITU BAHRI Present:- Ms. Prerna Chandra, Advocate for Mr. Ashwani Bhardwaj, Advocate for the appellants.

Mr. Vikrant Hooda, Advocate for respondent No. 1 Mr. N.K. Sharma, DAG, Haryana and Mr. Ajay Sharma, DAG, Haryana Mr. Aseem Aggarwal, Advocate for respondent No. 4

1. To be referred to the Reporters or not?

2. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest? RITU BAHRI J.

1.

The present appeal has been preferred by the claimantsappellants (for short 'the appellants'), seeking enhancement of the amount of compensation awarded by the learned Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, (FTC) Bhiwani (for short, 'the Tribunal') to the tune of Rs. 7,60,000/-, vide impugned award dated 14.12.2006.

-2FACTS NOT IN DISPUTE 2.

On 30.09.2001, Mohan Lal (since deceased) along with brother Mukesh and his Bhabhi Jyoti and their daughter were going from Fatehabad to Delhi in their UNO car bearing No. HR-16-C-0621 When they cros Rohtak police naka and reached towards Delhi then a bus bearing registration No. HR-39-4600 came from opposite at a very high speed, being driven by respondent No. 1, and hit the car, as a result of which occupants of the car received multiple and grievous injuries. A police patrolling jeep reached at the spot and shifted all the injured to Delhi Hospital at Bahadurgarh. Mohan Lal died due to the injuries suffered by him in the accident. On the statement of Mukesh Kumar, F.I.R No. 375 dated 30.09.2001 u/s 279/337/304-A IPC has been registered in this regard.

3.

The learned counsel for the appellants contends that the Tribunal has erred in awarding the compensation, in view of the judgment of 'Sarla Verma and others vs. Delhi Transport Corporation and another, 2009 (3) RCR (Civil) Page 77', 'Rajesh and others vs. Rajbir Singh and others, 2013 (9) SCC 54' and 'Munna Lal Jain and another vs. Vipin Kumar Sharma and others, 2015(3) Recent Apex Judgments 459', Asha Verman and others vs. Maharaj Singh and others, 2015(2) RCR (Civil) 520 and

-3Kalpanaraj and others v. Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation, 2015(2) SCC (Civil) 193.

4.

On the other hand, the learned counsel for the respondent-Insurance Company have vehemently opposed the present appeal.

5.

I have heard learned counsel for the parties and gone through the record.

6.

The learned Tribunal while granting the compensation to the appellants had assessed the income of the deceased at Rs.54200/- per annum and by giving future prospect of 40%, the net earning of the deceased is assessed at Rs.75,000/- per annum and cut of 1/3 was applied and the annual loss of dependency comes to Rs.50,000/- and thereafter multiplier of 15 was applied and Rs.10,000/- was awarded towards transportation of dead body and performance of last right. The total compensation of Rs.7,60,000/- was given to the appellants. 6.

In the instant case, the deceased was 24 years of age at the time of the accident, as per Annexure P-11. The deceased was businessman, who was running two firms. The accident in question is not in dispute and the offending vehicle was fully insured with the Insurance Company.

7.

In view of the above mentioned judgments, the

-4compensation is re-assessed as under:- Sr.

No.

Heads Calculations (i) Salary Rs.54200/- per annum (ii) 50% of (i) above to be added as future prospects= Rs.54200+Rs.27100=Rs.81,300/- per annum (iii) 1/4 of (ii) deducted as personal expenses of the deceased= Rs.81300-Rs.20325=Rs.60975/- per annum (iv) Compensation after multiplier of 18 is applied Rs.60975X 18= Rs.10,97,550/- (v) Loss of consortium to wife Rs.1,00,000/- (v) Loss of estate Rs.1,00,000/- (vi) For love and affection to two children Rs.2,00,000/- (Rs. 1 lac each to two children) (vii) For love and affection to mother Rs.50,000/- (vii) Funeral charges Rs.25,000/- Total Compensation awarded Rs.15,72,550/- Enhanced amount of compensation Rs.15,72,550-Rs.7,60,000=Rs.8,12,550/- (Rounded of to Rs.8,12,000/-) 8.

The enhanced amount of compensation of Rs.8,12,000/- shall be payable within a period of forty five days from the date of receipt of certified copy of this order. The enhanced amount of compensation shall carry interest @ 9% per annum from the date of filing of the claim petition, till its realization, in view of the judgment of Hon'ble the Supreme Court in a case of Kumari Kiran through her father Harinarayan vs. Sajjan Singh and others, 2015(1) SCC 539. Remaining conditions of disbursal of amount shall remain unaltered. 9.

Accordingly, the award stands modified to the above

-5extent and the present appeal is partly allowed. November 04, 2015 ( RITU BAHRI ) G Arora JUDGE1