IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH F.A.O. No. 266 of 1991 Date of Decision : April 07, 2010 Smt. Amar Kaur ....Appellant Versus State of Punjab and others .....Respondents CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE T.P.S. MANN Present : Mr. Karminder Singh, Advocate for the appellant. Mr. P.S. Grewal, Assistant Advocate General, Punjab for respondents No. 1 and 2. Ms. Rakhi Sharma, Advocate for respondent No.3. None for respondents No. 4 to 8. T.P.S. MANN, J. (Oral) Smt. Amar Kaur, one of the claimants, filed the present appeal with a prayer for enhancing the amount of compensation as awarded by Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, Ropar on 9.11.1990, whereby amount of Rs.72,000/- as compensation and Rs.2,000/- for expenses on last rites were granted. There is no dispute with the fact that the deceased was 54 years of age at the time of the accident. Despite the same, learned Tribunal applied the multiplier of five. Under the Second Schedule to the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, the suggested multiplier is 11, where the deceased was above 50 years but not exceeding 55 years of age. It is true that at the time when the accident in question had taken place, the Motor Vehicles Act, 1939 was in vogue, whereunder no such schedule as the Second Schedule to the 1988 Act had been provided. Learned Tribunal relied upon Bhagwan Das v. Mohd. Arif, 1987 ACJ 1052, to apply the multiplier F.A.O. No. 266 of 1991 -2- of '5' as the deceased was 54 years' old. That judgment was in respect of the claimant who was 35 years of age and working as a technician in the Merchant Navy. He had received injuries in the accident whereas, in the present case, Mewa Singh, victim of the accident, had died on account of the injuries received in the accident. Therefore, the decision in the aforementioned judgment was not directly applicable to the facts and circumstances of the present case. Taking into consideration the totality of the circumstances, the Court is of the view that multiplier of 10 ought to have been applied in granting compensation to the claimant-appellant on account of death of her husband Mewa Singh in a motor vehicular accident. Apart from the aforementioned compensation, the claimant-appellant is also entitled to receive an amount of Rs.5,000/- for loss of consortium. Therefore, the claimant ought to have been granted Rs.1,44,000/- (1200 x 12 x 10) as compensation, Rs.2,000/- as expenses on last rites and Rs.5,000/- for loss of consortium, i.e. Rs.1,51,000/- in all. Resultantly, the appeal is allowed by enhancing the total amount of compensation from Rs.74,000/- to Rs.1,51,000/- to be paid to the claimant-appellant by respondents No. 1 to 3 jointly and severally. She shall also be entitled to interest on the enhanced amount of compensation at the rate of 9% per annum from the date of filing of the claim petition till its realisation. ( T.P.S.MANN ) April 07, 2010 JUDGE satish