MAC .APP.No.1009/2006 Page 1 of 4 35 *IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI + MAC.APP.No.1009-10/2006 Date of Decision: 13th July, 2009 % BARNABAS YUHANNA & ANR. ..... Appellants Through : Mr. I.C. Mishra and Mr. Tarun Kumar Tyagi, Advs. versus NARAYAN CHAUDHARY & ORS. ..... Respondents Through : Ms. Varsha Pathak, Adv. for Mr. Mohan Babu Aggarwal, Adv. for R-3. CORAM :- THE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE J.R. MIDHA 1. Whether Reporters of Local papers may Yes be allowed to see the Judgment? 2. To be referred to the Reporter or not? Yes 3. Whether the judgment should be Yes reported in the Digest? JUDGMENT (Oral) 1. The appellants have challenged the award of the learned Tribunal whereby compensation of Rs.8,42,000/- has been awarded to the appellants. The appellants seek enhancement of the award amount. 2. The accident dated 5th June, 2004 resulted in the death of Ashok Masih aged 25 years at the time of the accident. The deceased was survived by his parents who filed the claim petition before the learned Tribunal. 3. The deceased was working as Technician (Radio MAC .APP.No.1009/2006 Page 2 of 4 therapy) Grade II with AIIMS and was earning Rs.12,053/- per month. The learned Tribunal deducted 1/2 towards the personal expenses of the deceased and applied the multiplier of 11 considering the age of the father to be 54 years and the age of the mother to be 51 years. The loss of dependency was computed at Rs.7,92,000/-. Rs.15,000/- has been awarded towards loss of estate, Rs.25,000/- towards loss of love and affection and Rs.10,000/- towards funeral expenses. The total compensation awarded is Rs.8,42,000/-. 4. The appellants have raised the following grounds at the time of the hearing of this appeal:- (i) The age of the parents of the deceased at the time of the accident was 45 years and 48 years and the appropriate multiplier according to the age of the mother is 14. (ii) The future prospects of the deceased be taken into consideration. (iii) The rate of interest be enhanced from 6% to 9% per annum. 5. With respect to the age of the parents of the deceased, the appellants have placed on record their election cards which were proved as Ex.PW1/B and Ex.PW2/B. Ex.PW1/B is the election card of appellant No.1 who was aged 38 years as on 1st January, 1994. Ex.PW2/B is the election card of appellant No.2 who was aged 35 years as on 31st January, 1994. The age of the mother and the father of the deceased as on the date of accident was 48 and 45 years respectively. MAC .APP.No.1009/2006 Page 3 of 4 The appropriate multiplier according to the age of the mother in terms to the recent judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of Sarla Verma Vs. Delhi Transport Corporation, 2009 (6) Scale 129 is 14 and, therefore, the learned Tribunal was in error in applying the multiplier of 11. 6. The learned Tribunal has not taken future prospects of the deceased into consideration. The deceased was working with AIIMS as Technician (Radio therapy) Grade-II. The deceased was appointed on 2nd November, 2002 and had completed almost 19 months of service at the time of the accident. Though the service of the appellant was temporary but PW-5 appeared on behalf of AIIMS and submitted that the deceased’s service could be confirmed and, therefore, the service of the deceased is treated to be permanent. Following the recent judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of Sarla Verma (supra), 50% of the salary is added towards the future prospects of the deceased. The income of the deceased for the purpose of computation of compensation is taken to be Rs.18,000/- (Rs.12,000 + Rs.6,000). 7. Taking the income of the deceased to be Rs.18,000/-, deducting 50% towards the personal expenses of the deceased and applying the multiplier of 14, the loss of dependency is computed to be Rs.15,12,000/-(Rs.18,000 – Rs.9,000 x 12 x 14). Adding Rs.25,000/- towards loss of love and affection, Rs.10,000/- towards funeral expenses and MAC .APP.No.1009/2006 Page 4 of 4 Rs.15,000/- towards loss of estate, the total compensation payable to the appellants is computed to be Rs.15,62,000/-. 8. The learned Tribunal has awarded interest @6% per annum on the award amount. Following the judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of Dharampal vs. U.P. State Road Transport Corporation, III 2008 ACC (1) SC, the rate of interest is enhanced from 6% to 7.5% per annum. 9. The appeal is allowed and the award amount is enhanced from Rs.8,42,000/- to Rs.15,62,000/- along with interest @7.5% from the date of filing of the petition till payment. Respondent No.3 is directed to deposit the enhanced amount along with interest thereon with the UCO Bank A/c Barnabas Yuhana, Delhi High Court Branch within 30 days. 10. The order with respect to the disbursement of the award amount shall be passed on 26th August, 2009. 11. Copy of this order be given ‘Dasti’ to learned counsel for the parties under signatures of Court Master. J.R. MIDHA, J JULY 13, 2009 aj