Anju Devi And ORS v. Surender And ORS

-1IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Date of decision:- 19.11.2015 Anju Devi and others ...Appellants

Versus

Surender and others

...Respondents

CORAM:

HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE RITU BAHRI Present:- Mr. Ajay Vijarania, Advocate for the appellants.

Mr. S.K. Chauhan,Advocate for Mr. Anil Kumar Gahlawat, Advocate for respondent No. 1, 2, 4 and 5.

Mr. Suvir Dewan, Advocate, for respondent No. 3 Mr. Rajnish Malhotra, Advocate, for respondent No. 6 RITU BAHRI J. (Oral) C.M. No. 24313-14 of 2014 For the reasons mentioned in the application, delay of 111 days in filing and 14 days in re-filing of the present appeal is condoned.

The applications stand disposed of accordingly.

-21.

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, Bhiwani (for short, 'the Tribunal') to the tune of Rs. 7,54,400/-, vide impugned award dated 14.12.2012. FACTS NOT IN DISPUTE 2.

On 27.10.2008, Joginder Singh along with Bahadur Singh, Dalbir, Surneder Kumar, Sajjan Singh were coming to village Garanpura, from Hissar Military Canteen in a car bearing registration No. DL-03-CF-6371 being driven by Shamsher and when they reached near Subhash Stone Crusher, Khanak, a dumper bearing registration No. HR-37-B-9322 being driven by respondent No. 1 in a rash and negligent manner in a high speed came from Tosham side and hit their car. After that a TATA vehicle bearing registration No. HR-61-2347 being driven by respondent No. 7 hit their car. Due to this accident, all the occupants of the car received injuries on vital parts of the body. Shamsher Singh and Bahadur Singh succumbed to their injuries. 3.

The learned counsel for the appellants contends that the Tribunal has erred in awarding the compensation to the present appellants, in view of the judgment of 'Sarla Verma and others vs. Delhi Transport Corporation and another, 2009 (3) RCR (Civil)

-3Page 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 Kalpanaraj 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.4800/- per month and 1/4rd was deducted as personal expenses and the dependency comes to Rs.3600/- and the annual dependency comes to Rs.43,200/- and applied the multiplier of 17 and the amount comes to Rs.7,34,400/- and Rs.20,000 was awarded towards loss of consortium, loss of estate, funeral expenses.

7.

In the instant case, the deceased was 29 years of age at the time of the accident. The deceased was the only bread earner of the family and was working as a driver. The accident in question is not in

-4dispute and the offending vehicle was fully insured with the Insurance Company.

8.

In view of the above mentioned judgments, the compensation is re-assessed as under:- Sr.

No.

Heads Calculations (i) Salary Rs.4800X12= Rs.57,600/-per annum (ii) 50% of (i) above to be added as future prospects= Rs.57600+Rs.28800=Rs.86,400/- per annum (iii) 1/4th of (ii) deducted as personal expenses of the deceased= Rs.86400-Rs.21600=Rs.64800/- per annum (iv) Compensation after multiplier of 17 is applied Rs.64800X 17= Rs.11,01,600/- (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 parents Rs.1,00,000/- (Rs.50,000 each to parents) (vii) Funeral charges Rs.25,000/- Total Compensation awarded Rs.16,26,600/- Enhanced amount of compensation Rs.16,26,600-Rs.7,54,400=Rs.8,72,200/- rounded of to Rs.8,72,000/- 9.

The enhanced amount of compensation of Rs.8,72,000/- 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.

-510.

Accordingly, the award stands modified to the above extent and the present appeal is partly allowed. November 19, 2015 ( RITU BAHRI ) G Arora JUDGE1