IN THE PUNJAB AND HARYANA HIGH COURT AT CHANDIGARH FAO No.1054 of 2001 Date of decision : December 11, 2008 Smt. Kulwant Kaur & others ... Appellants Versus Sh. Sinder Singh & others ... Respondents CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AJAY TEWARI Present : Mr. Manu Goyal, Advocate for the appellants. Mr. R.C. Kapoor, Advocate. *** AJAY TEWARI, J.(Oral) This is an appeal filed against the order passed by MACT, Karnal in regard to the death of Sukhwinder Singh alias Sukha Singh. The appellants are the wife and three children of the deceased. The Tribunal even while accepting that he was employed on a combine harvester held that since he did not possess any diploma, he would be treated as a labourer and decided that his salary at Rs.1,500/-. In my opinion, any person who is working on combine harvester cannot be treated as unskilled labour and he should be treated as a skilled labourer. In these circumstances, the salary of the deceased would be Rs.2,500/-. Out of that amount, the dependency would be Rs.1,700/-. The learned Tribunal held that dependency would be only Rs.1000/-. The Tribunal has applied the multiplier of 16. In my opinion, the multiplier of 16 is on the higher side and the same should be reduced to 15 as per Schedule. The amount awarded under the heads of funeral expenses, loss of consortium and loss of estate do not require any modification. Resultantly, this appeal is allowed and the dependency of FAO No.1054 of 2001 -2- appellants is increased to Rs.1,700/- per month, while reducing the multiplier to 15. The appellant is entitled to increased compensation with 8% interest per annum from the date of claim petition till the date of payment. December 11, 2008 (AJAY TEWARI) sonia JUDGE