FAO No.1630 of 2011 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH FAO No.1630 of 2011 Date of decision: 8.11.2011 Gurmeet Kaur and others ....Appellants Versus Vishal Kumar @ Lucky and others ...Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE JITENDRA CHAUHAN Present: Mr.Dheeraj Narula, Advocate for the appellants Mr.Vishal Chaudhary, Advocate for respondent-Insurance Company ***** Jitendra Chauhan, J.(Oral) The present appeal has been filed by the claimants/appellants seeking enhancement of the compensation amount awarded by the learned Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Sirsa (for short 'the Tribunal') vide award date 13.10.2010 on account of death of Gurmail Singh. Learned counsel for the appellants contends that the deceased was owner and in cultivating possession of seven acres of land and also having a tractor-trolly. He was earning ` 10,000/- per month, whereas the learned Tribunal has assessed the income of the deceased as `3000/- per month taking him as a casual labourer. On the other hand, learned counsel for the respondent- Insurance Company contends that the compensation awarded by the learned Tribunal is just and adequate and there is no scope of any enhancement. I have heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the FAO No.1630 of 2011 2 record carefully. From the perusal of the record, it emerges that the death of Gurmail Singh occurred in accident, which is proved on record. There being no proof of income, the learned Tribunal taking him as daily wager/labourer, assessed his income as ` 3000/- per month, which is inadequate because as per the Notification dated 27.6.2007 issued by the Labour Department, Haryana Government, under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, the minimum wage of an unskilled worker has been prescribed as ` 3510/- per month. Therefore, the same is to be assessed as ` 3510/- per month being a casual labourer. The learned Tribunal has assessed the dependency as 3/4th, which is adequate as there are five dependents. The amount awarded under the conventional heads is just and adequate. The multiplier of 16 was correctly applied by the learned Tribunal, in view of the age of the deceased being 32 years. In view of the above, the total compensation of dependency comes to ` 5,05,440/- (3510 x 3/4 x 12 x 16). The balance amount i.e. ` 73,440/- (5,05440 – 4,32,000, which has already been awarded) shall be paid to the appellants in the manner indicated in the impugned award within 45 days from the receipt of the certified copy of the judgment, failing which, the same shall carry interest @ 7.5% per annum from the date of filing of the appeal, till its realisation. In view of above, the present appeal is partly allowed with the modification indicated above. 8.11.2011 (JITENDRA CHAUHAN) gsv JUDGE