IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH FAO No.1614 of 1992 (O&M) Date of decision:10.11.2010 Smt. Indu Ram Lal and others ....Appellants versus M/s Tara Brothers and others ...Respondents CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE K. KANNAN ---- Present: Mr.H.S.Tulli, Advocate, for Mr. S.S.Rangi, Advocate, for the appellants. None for respondents 1, 2 and 4. Mr. R.C.Gupta, Advocate, for respondent No.3. Mr.Paul S. Saini, Advocate, for respondent No.5. ---- 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) 1. The claim for enhancement of claim comes through the wife and two minor children of the deceased Naresh Kumar, who died in a motor accident. At the trial, salary certificate was produced showing that he was earning Rs.1,970/- and the Tribunal while assessing the compensation, took the extent of dependency at Rs.1,000/- and adopted a multiplier of 10. Learned counsel argues that the choice of multiplier was wrong and even the extent of dependency determined was low. I FAO No.1614 of 1992 (O&M) - 2 - concede to the contentions of the counsel on both counts and would take the dependency to be 2/3rd of the income which would be Rs.1,333/- and if a multiplier of 17 were to be taken for a person, who was in the age group of 30 to 35, the appropriate multiplier would be 17 as per Schedule-II of the MV Act. The loss due to dependency would be Rs.2,72,000/-. I would add Rs.5,000/- towards loss of consortium to the wife and Rs.2,500/- for each of the minor children and provide for an additional amount of Rs.5,000/- towards loss to estate and Rs.2,500/- for funeral expenses. In all, the amount that would become payable would be Rs.2,89,500/-. The Tribunal has already awarded Rs.1,20,000/- and the amount determined in excess shall also attract interest at 6% from the date of the petition till the date of payment. The manner of apportionment of compensation shall be in the same proportion as determined by the Tribunal amongst the claimants. 2. The appeal is allowed to the above extent. (K.KANNAN) JUDGE 10.11.2010 sanjeev