IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH FAO No.851 of 1990 (O&M) Date of decision:11.03.2011 Smt. Bala and others ....Appellants versus Rameshwar and others ...Respondents CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE K. KANNAN ---- Present: None. ---- 1. Whether reporters of local papers may be allowed to see the judgment ? No. 2. To be referred to the reporters or not ? No. 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the digest ? No. ---- K.Kannan, J. (Oral) 1. The appeal is for enhancement of claim for compensation for death of a male, aged 20 years. The claimants were widow and parents. At the time of trial, it was admitted that the widow had remarried her husband's brother as per custom and the Tribunal, therefore, rejected compensation for the widow and awarded compensation by determining the dependency of the parents at Rs.1,000/- per month and adopted a multiplier of 5. In case of remarriage, the widow would be entitled to compensation upto the date of remarriage and it is not clear from evidence when she had remarried her husband's brother, but I will take the component of the loss FAO No.851 of 1990 (O&M) - 2 - of consortium to her husband and the financial loss for even the brief period from the date of her remarriage, at Rs.10,000/-. In the manner of determination of compensation, the appropriate multiplier could not have been as low as 5. I would increase the compensation to a total amount of Rs.75,000/- and out of the additional Rs.36,000/- which is awarded now, Rs.10,000/- shall be given to the widow and the remaining Rs.26,000/- will be shared between the parents. In the presence of the parents, the dependency for the brothers of the deceased must have been only on their own parents and not on the deceased's brother. The claim at their instance cannot, therefore, survive any favourable consideration. 2. The appeal is allowed to an additional amount of Rs.36,000/- with interest at 6% from the date of petition till date of payment. The liability shall be on the respondents 1 to 4 only. Since the name of the Insurance Company had not been mentioned and it is not clear whether there had been any policy of insurance, the amount shall be distributed only between the widow and the parents in the manner indicate above. 3. Since there is no representation for the appellants, order copy is ordered to be despatched to the first claimant directly by the Registry at the address given in the memo of parties. (K.KANNAN) JUDGE 11.03.2011 sanjeev