IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH FAO No.808 of 1993(O&M) Date of decision:08.02.2011 Sarabjeet Kaur and others ....Appellants versus Delhi Transport Corporation and another ....Respondents CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE K. KANNAN ---- Present: Mr. Bhupinder Singh Walia, Advocate, for the appellants. Mr. V. Ramswaroop, Advocate, for the respondents. ---- 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 an agriculturist, who was aged 26 years. The claimants were the widow, two minor daughters, one son and aged parents. Before the Tribunal, the evidence was that he had joint ownership with his brothers and agriculture combine through which they used to earn Rs.4,000/- per month. She has also stated that her husband was having 12 killas of land and was running milk dairy consisting of 8 buffaloes and 2 cows. There was also evidence that he had income of Rs.2,000 to Rs.2,500 from milk dairy and Rs.3,000 to Rs.4,000 from agriculture produce. The Tribunal reasoned that the deceased had merely 1/5th share in the income and, therefore, his contribution to the family could be taken only at Rs.800/- FAO No.816 of 1993(O&M) - 2 - per month. I am of the view that the Tribunal, while it accepted one portion of the evidence that her husband had only 1/5th share, discarded wholly the source of income which she had given and the estimation of income which her husband was earning along with the others. Her evidence seems reasonable to me and I would take the aggregate of the same which she referred in her evidence as the income for the whole family and his own share could not have been anything less than Rs.2,300/- being 1/5th of Rs.11,500/-, having regard to a large family that he was supporting, I would provide a 1/4th deduction for personal expenses and take the remaining as contribution to the family and would adopt a multiplier of 17 and hold the loss of dependence at Rs.3,21,300/-. I will add Rs.5,000/- for loss of consortium and Rs.2,500/- for each one of the minor children and make a further provision for funeral expenses at Rs.2,500/- since the agricultural land are still available and their status intact, I will make no further provision for the loss to estate . The total amount of compensation would come to Rs.3,36,300/-. The Tribunal has already awarded Rs.1,92,000/- and the amount in excess shall attract interest at 6% from the date of petition till date of payment. The enhancement of the award done through this appeal shall be distributed equally amongst the wife and the children only. The liability shall be in the same manner as determined by the Tribunal. 2. The appeal is allowed to the above terms. (K.KANNAN) JUDGE 08.02.2011 sanjeev