Sukhwinder Kaur And Others v. Harbhajan Singh And Others
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is no dispute that deceased- Ajit Singh was about 50 years of age. He left behind a widow, two children and a old mother, namely, Radha Rani. The Tribunal deducted 1/3rd income towards the personal expenses of the deceased whereas in view of the law laid down by Hon'ble Apex Court in Sarla Verma Vs. Delhi Transport Corporation, 2009 (6) SCC 121, the deductions should have been 1/4th as the dependents were 4 in number. Similarly compensation awarded under the head of consortium and funeral expenses also deserves to be enhanced. Appellant-claimants No.2 and 3 also deserves some compensation under the head loss of love and affection. The monthly income of the deceased assessed by the
3 Tribunal is also on lower side. Jasbir Singh (PW-2) has desposed that deceased Ajit Singh was engaged by the Gurudwara Committee as a Granthi in Gurudrawa Sahib w.e.f. January 2007 and is being paid Rs.5000/- per month as salary. Besides this he was also doing agricultural work and was maintaining a family consisting of five members including his wife, two children and mother. In the absence of any record of income, the income of the deceased should not have been determined less than Rs.5,000/- per month as in order to maintain such family, which consists of five members atleast, the deceased must have been earning Rs.5000/- per month.
The application of 13 as multiplier is in accordance with principles held by Hon'ble Apex Court in Sarla Verma's case (supra). In this way, the amount for loss of dependency for the family would be Rs.5,85,000/- (5000-1/4 x 12 x 14) instead of Rs.4,68,000/- determined by the Tribunal. Thus this Court allows the above increase and income of deceased is assessed at Rs.5000/- per month instead of Rs.4500/- per month.
The Tribunal has awarded an amount of Rs.10,000/- each towards funeral expenses and loss of consortium which is also on lower side. The amount under the head funeral expenses is increased to Rs.25,000/- and the amount under the head loss of consortium is increased to Rs.1,00,000/-. Appellants-claimants No.2 and 3 are also awarded a sum of Rs.1,00,000/- towards the loss of love and affection as these claimants have lost their father in the accident and have been deprived the love and affection of their father. Thus the total amount of
4 compensation would be Rs.8,10,000/- 585000+25000+100000+100000). The enhanced amount of compensation shall also carry interest @ 6% per annum from the date of filing of the claim petition till the amount is paid.
The amount under the conventional head i.e. loss of consortium would be payable to appellant no. 1-wife and under the other conventional head i.e. loss of love and affection to appellants no. 2 and 3 equally. The remaining amount would be disbursed in the same proportion as determined by the Tribunal.
With the aforesaid modification in the award, the present appeal stands disposed of.
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