FAO No. 2454 of 2008 -1- In the High Court of Punjab & Haryana at Chandigarh FAO No. 2454 of 2008 (O&M) Date of decision : 20.1.2010 Jai Narain and others ... Appellants vs Foosa Gurjar and others .... Respondents Coram: Hon'ble Mr. Justice Rajesh Bindal Present: Mr. Sameer Singh, Advocate, for the appellants. Mr. Vinod Gupta, Advocate, for the Insurance company. Rajesh Bindal J. Challenge in the present appeal is to the award of the learned Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Rohtak (hereinafter to be referred as “the Tribunal”), only on the ground that the multiplier applied by the Tribunal considering the age of the deceased is not correct. The brief facts of the case are that on 16.9.2005, Sukhbir Singh and Rajesh after completing their work were coming to their Village Sankhol on motorcycle no. DL-4-SAL/1985. Rajesh was driving the motorcycle and Sukhbir was its pillion rider. Offending vehicle, trailer no. HR-47A/1389 being driven by Foosa Gurjar, respondent no. 1, at a fast speed and in a rash and negligent manner and without its back light on was going ahead of their motorcycle. Respondent no. 1 suddenly applied brakes, due to which the motorcycle struck the behind portion of the trailer. As a result of this, Sukhbir Singh and Rajesh received injuries. They were taken to Government Hospital, Bahadurgarh where Rajesh was declared brought dead and Sukhbir was referred to the PGIMS, Rohtak, where he also succumbed to his injuries. The parents and grand-father of deceased Sukhbir filed claim petition before the learned Tribunal which was allowed by it after taking the dependency at Rs. 1,000/- (i.e. 40%). The only issue raised by learned counsel for the appellants is that dependency of the deceased has been taken on a lesser side. As far his assessed income is concerned, it was found by the Tribunal that the deceased was earning Rs. 2,500/- per month, whereas his dependency was merely taken at Rs. 1000/- per month i.e. 40% of the total income. The deceased was the only earning member in the family to support his parents and grand-father as well. In terms of provisions of law laid down by Hon'ble the Supreme Court in Sarla Verma (Smt.) and others vs Delhi Transport Corporation and another 2009 (6) SCC 121, dependency in such case should be @ 50%. FAO No. 2454 of 2008 -2- No other issue was raised by the learned counsel for the appellants. Learned counsel for the Insurance company could not dispute the proposition of law laid down by Hon'ble the Supreme Court in Sarla Verma's case (supra), where it has been held that in the case of unmarried person dependency should be taken at 50%. Considering the aforesaid fact, the dependency of the deceased is taken at Rs. 1,250/- per month and his contribution to the family being Rs. 1,250/- per month, the amount of compensation is assessed at Rs. 2,55,000/- as against Rs. 2,04,000/-. The impugned award of the Tribunal is modified to the extent mentioned above. The appeal is disposed of. 20.1.2010 ( Rajesh Bindal) vs. Judge