IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH FAO No.7418 of 2010 (O&M) Date of decision:23.12.2010 United India Insurance Company Limited ....Appellant versus Gurmeet Singh and others ...Respondents CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE K. KANNAN ---- Present: Mr. Jagtar Kureel, Advocate, and Mr. D.P. Gupta, Advocate, for the appellant. ---- 1. Whether reporters of local papers may be allowed to see the judgment ? 2. To be referred to the reporters or not ? 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the digest ? ---- K.Kannan, J.(Oral) The appellant-Insurance Company is in appeal on the issue of quantum for an award of Rs.1,70,000/- for death of a 70 years old woman. The value of the services of a woman was taken at Rs.20,000/- per annum and the Tribunal had adopted a multiplier of 8 and determined the loss of dependency at Rs.1,60,000/-, added Rs.10,000/- for funeral expenses and loss of company and granted Rs.1,70,000/-. The learned counsel would urge that the notional income could not have been more than Rs.15,000/- and a deduction must have been for personal expenses and the choice of multiplier must have been only 5. While I would agree that broad principles laid down through Schedule-II or what has come through various judicial pronouncement particularly in the decision of FAO No.7418 of 2010 (O&M) - 2 - Hon'ble Supreme Court in Sarla Verma and others Versus Delhi Transport Corporation and another-2009 ACJ 1298, I will not find that to be a reason for intervention when the overall compensation is even less than Rs.2 lakhs. The Insurance Company must know that it should not waste money for preferring appeals for claims which are not wide off the mark for death of persons. The value of life cannot be as cheap as to be even less than Rs.2 lakh, no matter that a person is 70 years of age. I do not find any reason to interfere with the award. The appeal is dismissed. (K.KANNAN) JUDGE 23.12.2010 sanjeev