FAO No. 1165 of 1989 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH FAO No. 1165 of 1989 Decided on : 08-12-2008 Smt. Sheema Devi and others ....Appellants VERSUS Mahinder Singh and others ....Respondents CORAM:- HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE MAHESH GROVER Present:- Mr. S.S.Kaliramna Advocate for the appellants. Mr. Neeraj Khanna, Advocate for the Insurance Company. MAHESH GROVER, J This appeal is directed against the award of the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Gurgaon dated 24.3.1989. In an accident which took place on 30.1.1988, Pardeep Kataria lost his life. He was survived by his widow, two children and mother. He was aged 26/27 years and was engaged in the business of stone crushing and was maintaining two brick kilns. Ex.PC and PB are income tax returns which are placed on record. It was also claimed that the deceased was earning from some agricultural land as well. The Tribunal assessed the income on the basis of the income tax returns which are on record and took his income as Rs.25038/- per year and applied a cut of 1/3rd on account of personal expenses to arrive at dependency of Rs.16692/- per annum. Multiplier of 16 was applied to arrive at the figure of Rs.2,67,072/- which was awarded alongwith interest FAO No. 1165 of 1989 2 at the rate of 12% per annum from the date of filing of the petition till the date of its realisation out of which Rs.75,000/- each was directed to be deposited in the name of minor child and the remaining amount of Rs.1,17,072/- was awarded to the widow. No amount was awarded to the mother of the deceased. Dis-satisfied with the award, the appellants are in appeal. After hearing learned counsel for the appellants and perusing the award, I am of the considered opinion that there is no infirmity in the income assessed as the deceased was assessed on the basis of the income tax returns which are on record. An amount of 1/3rd which was deducted on account of personal expenses is also correct. However, slight modification deserves to be made in the award as the multiplier could have been slightly higher considering the age of the deceased which was 26/27 years. In the given set of circumstances, multiplier of 18 would be just and appropriate which is in accordance with the Schedule to the Motor Vehicles Act which is the guiding factor. In this manner, compensation comes to Rs.3,00,456/-. An amount of Rs. 20,000/- is awarded on account of funeral expenses and loss of estate etc. Therefore, the total compensation comes to Rs. 3,20,456/-. As noticed above, only widow and children of the deceased were awarded compensation and no amount was awarded to the mother of the deceased, in this view of the matter, the enhanced amount of compensation ie. Rs.53,384/- (320456-267072 = 53384) shall be paid to the mother of the deceased alone. However, in the event of death of the mother of the deceased, the enhanced amount of compensation shall be awarded to the widow and her children. FAO No. 1165 of 1989 3 The enhanced amount of compensation shall be paid alongwith interest at the rate of 9 % per annum from the date of filing of petition till the date of its realisation. The liability to pay the amount shall be the same as has been determined by the Tribunal. The appeal stands disposed of in the aforesaid terms and the award of the Tribunal is modified accordingly. December 8 , 2008 (Mahesh Grover) rekha Judge