MAC.APP.No.566/2007 Page 1 of 5 17 *IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI + MAC.APP.No.566/2007 Date of Decision : 12th March, 2010 % LAJPAT RAI MADAN & ORS. ..... Appellants Through : Mr. Ankur Singhal, Adv. versus THE NEW INDIA ASSURANCE CO. LTD. ..... Respondent Through : Mr. Kanwal Chaudhary, Adv. for R-1. Mr. Rajat Aneja, Adv. for R-3. CORAM :- THE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE J.R. MIDHA 1. Whether Reporters of Local papers may NO be allowed to see the Judgment? 2. To be referred to the Reporter or not? NO 3. Whether the judgment should be NO reported in the Digest? JUDGMENT (Oral) 1. Respondent No.3 has filed the affidavit of his assets and income in terms of the order dated 4th February, 2010 which is taken on record. 2. The appellants have challenged the award of the learned Tribunal whereby compensation of Rs.8,43,000/- has been awarded to the appellants. The appellants seek enhancement of the award amount. 3. The accident dated 22nd February, 2004 resulted in the death of Jitender Madaan. The deceased was survived by his parents and widow. However, the claim petition was filed only by the parents. MAC.APP.No.566/2007 Page 2 of 5 4. The deceased was aged 30 years at the time of the accident and was self-employed. The learned Tribunal took the income of the deceased as Rs.1,50,636/- per annum on the basis of the average of the last two Income Tax Returns, deducted 1/3rd towards the personal expenses and applied the multiplier of 8 to compute the loss of dependency at Rs.8,03,392/-. Rs.10,000/- has been awarded towards funeral expenses, Rs.20,000/- towards loss of love and affection and Rs.10,000/- towards loss of consortium. The total compensation awarded is Rs.8,43,000/-. 5. The learned counsel for the appellants has urged the following grounds at the time of hearing of this appeal:- (i) The income of the deceased be taken as Rs.1,63,465/- per annum according to the Income Tax Return for the years 2003 – 04. (ii) The multiplier be enhanced from 8 to 11. (iii) The rate of interest be enhanced from 7% per annum to 7.5% per annum. 6. The income of the deceased as per the Income Tax Returns was as under:- 7. The deceased expired on 22nd February, 2004. The Claims Tribunal has taken the average of the last two years Income Tax Returns which comes to Rs.1,50,636/- per S.NO. ASSESSMENT YEAR INCOME (PER ANNUM) 1. 2002-03 Rs.1,37,806.75 2. 2003-04 Rs.1,63,465.00 3. 2004-05 Rs.1,54,332.00 MAC.APP.No.566/2007 Page 3 of 5 annum. The finding of the Claims Tribunal in this regard is upheld. 8. The Claims Tribunal has applied the multiplier of 8. The deceased was aged 30 years at the time of the accident and the age of the mother at the time of the accident was 54 years. The appropriate multiplier according to the age of the mother is 11. 9. The Claims Tribunal has deducted 1/3rd towards the personal expenses of the deceased. The deceased was survived by the parents and widow but the widow has, by an agreement with the parents, given up her rights to claim any compensation. The parents of the deceased have paid Rs.2,00,000/- to the widow of the deceased. The widow is not claiming any compensation and the claim petition has been preferred only by the parents. The appropriate deduction towards the personal expenses according to the judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of Sarla Verma Vs. Delhi Transport Corporation, 2009 (6) Scale 129 is 1/2 as the claimants are the parents of the deceased and the widow is not claiming any compensation. The personal expenses of the deceased are, therefore, liable to be increased from 1/3rd to 1/2. 10. Taking the income of the deceased as Rs.12,553/- per month, deducting 1/2 towards the personal expenses and applying the multiplier of 11, the loss of dependency is computed to be Rs.8,28,498/- (Rs.12,553 x 1/2 x 12 x 11). MAC.APP.No.566/2007 Page 4 of 5 Adding Rs.10,000/- towards funeral expenses, Rs.20,000/- towards loss of love and affection and Rs.10,000/- towards loss of consortium, the total compensation is computed to be Rs.8,68,498/- (Rs.8,28,498 + Rs.10,000 + Rs.20,000 + Rs.10,000). The rate of interest is enhanced from 7% per annum to 7.5% per annum. 11. The appeal is allowed and the award amount is enhanced from Rs.8,43,000/- to Rs.8,68,498/- along with interest @ 7.5% per annum from the date of filing of the petition till realization. 12. Respondent No.1 has deposited the amount awarded by the Claims Tribunal and the same has been released to the appellants except a sum of Rs.1,00,000/- which has been awarded by the Claims Tribunal to the widow of the deceased. Since the widow of the deceased has not made any claim and the parents of the deceased have paid Rs.2,00,000/- to the widow of the deceased, the finding of the Claims Tribunal in so far as Rs.1,00,000/- has been awarded to the widow is set aside. The amount of Rs.1,00,000/-, which has been kept by the Claims Tribunal, be released to the appellants. The learned counsel for the appellants point out that the interim award has also not been released to the appellants and the same is lying with the Claims Tribunal. The Claims Tribunal is directed to release the interim award amount also to the appellants. MAC.APP.No.566/2007 Page 5 of 5 13. The enhanced award amount along with interest be deposited by respondent No.3 with the Claims Tribunal within 90 days. Upon the same being deposited, the Claims Tribunal is directed to release the same to the appellants without any restriction of fixed deposit. 14. Copy of this order be given ‘Dasti’ to learned counsel for both the parties under signature of Court Master. J.R. MIDHA, J MARCH 12, 2010 mk