IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH FAO No.1813 of 2000 (O&M) Date of decision:20.12.2010 Najma and others ....Appellants versus Kulwinder Singh and others ...Respondents CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE K. KANNAN ---- Present: Mr. Satinder Khanna, Advocate, for the appellants. None for respondents 1 and 2. Mr. Neeraj Khanna, 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 appeal is for enhancement of compensation for death of the claimant's husband, who was 32 years of age. The claimants were the widow and two minor sons. The learned counsel would seek for reappraisal of the compensation in the light of the scale of compensation provided under Schedule-II. According to him, the choice of multiplier at 15 was low and the appropriate multiplier would have been 17. The Tribunal had already taken Rs.2,500/- as the income which I will retain. By providing for a 1/3rd deduction and adopting a multiplier of 17, the total compensation will be Rs.3,40,000/-. I will add Rs.10,000/- towards the conventional heads of claim. The total amount of compensation will FAO No.1813 of 2000 (O&M) - 2 - come to Rs.3,50,000/-. The Tribunal had already awarded Rs.3,23,000/- and that there shall be a marginal increase of Rs.27,000/-, which shall attract interest at 6% from the date of petition till date of payment. The enhanced compensation shall be divided equally between the widow and two children only. The learned counsel for the Insurance Company points out that in relation to the same accident, there had been an appeal at the instance of the Insurance Company in FAO No.1005 of 2000 and it has been held in that judgment that the driver did not have a valid driving licence and, therefore, this Court has granted recovery rights against the insured/owner. The same shall be retained and the right of claim of enforcement by the claimants shall avail against the insured and the insurer shall in turn be entitled to exercise his right of recovery against the owner/insured. Subject to this right against the Insurance Company, the appeal is allowed. (K.KANNAN) JUDGE 20.12.2010 sanjeev