FAO No.1058 of 1987 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA, CHANDIGARH FAO No.1058 of 1987 Date of decision January 10, 2011 Smt. Nirmala Devi and another ....... Appellants Versus Smt. Satinder Kaur and others ........Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE K. KANNAN Present:- None for the appellants. None for respondent Nos. 1 and 2. Mr. Inderjeet Shama , Advocate and Mr. Pardeep Bedi, Advocate for respondent No.3. **** 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 case is of the year 1987. I do not want to dismiss the appeal for non-prosecution and proceed to examine the case on merits with the assistance of the counsel for the Insurance Company. 2. The deceased was 22 years of age and the claimant was a young widow, a posthumous child that was born subsequent to the death, and the father and mother. The Tribunal had held that he was earning Rs.1,000/- per month and after taking annual income at Rs.12,000/- took the dependency at Rs.8,000/- per year. However, while awarding the compensation and apportionment the FAO No.1058 of 1987 2 Tribunal observed that the first claimant would get remarried and therefore had awarded Rs.12,000/- to the widow and to the mother had awarded a compensation of Rs.40,000/-. He disallowed any compensation to the child. I find the award of the Tribunal to be untenable. 3. I would take the extent of dependency at Rs.8,000/- as already taken by the Tribunal and adopt a multiplier of 18 and find the loss of dependency at Rs.1,44,000/-. I will add Rs.5,000/- as loss of consortium and Rs.5,000/- for love and affection to the child who was born subsequently and who had the unenviable situation of growing up without ever having seen his father. I will add another Rs.5,000/- towards loss of estate and Rs.2,000/- towards funeral expenses and take the total compensation payable at Rs.1,61,000/-. The Tribunal has awarded Rs.52,000/- and the amount in excess shall bear interest at the rate of 6% per annum. In the manner of apportionment, the Tribunal has already awarded Rs.40,000/- to the mother even in the year 1987 and therefore enhancement of compensation shall be available only to the widow and the posthumous child and it will be divided equally between them. The accident is of the year 1986 and at the relevant time under Section 92-A, the liability for insurer for a truck for third party was seen to be Rs.1,50,000/-. The additional liability through this award shall be borne by the insurer up to Rs.1,50,000/- with interest and the amount in excess shall be borne by the insured. The appeal is allowed to the above extent. (K. KANNAN) JUDGE Jaunary 10, 2011 archana