IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Cross Objection No.1-CII of 1989 in/and FAO No.377 of 1988 (O&M) Date of decision:05.01.2011 Wakila Begum and others ....Appellants versus Gurmukh Singh and others ...Respondents II. FAO No.277 of 1988 (O&M) The Oriental Insurance Company Limited ....Appellant versus Wakila Begum and others ...Respondents CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE K. KANNAN ---- Present: Mr. Ashok Gupta, Advocate, for the appellants in FAO No.377 of 1988 and for respondents 1 and 5 in FAO No.277 of 1988. Mr. Ravinder Arora, Advocate, and Mr. Neeraj Khanna, Advocate, for the appellant in FAO No.277 of 1988. ---- 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 awarded to the representatives of the deceased, who was aged 32 years. The deceased was an income tax assessee and said to be engaged in the FAO No.377 of 1988 (O&M) - 2 - business of dairy farming. The income tax return showed his income at Rs.36,000/- but the Tribunal deducted Rs.1,500/- towards the business expenses of running and maintaining other motor vehicles for supplying milk and made a further deduction for his own expenditure and took the contribution to the family at Rs.1,000/- per month. I do not think it will be appropriate to make any deduction for maintenance of motorcycle and spending money on other persons for supplying milk. He was supporting a large family of wife and four minor children and I will, therefore, provide for a 1/4th deduction for his income that he was shown to be having at the time of his death and take the yearly contribution to the family at Rs.27,000/-. I will adopt a multiplier of 16 as taken by the Tribunal and take the loss of dependence at Rs.4,32,000/-. I will provide for loss of consortium to the wife at Rs.5,000/- and make the other additions towards the conventional heads of claim namely the loss of love and affection, loss to estate and funeral expenses as another Rs.18,000/- to round off the claim at Rs.4,50,000/-. The amount determined as excess of what was already awarded by the Tribunal will attract interest at 6% from the date of petition till date of payment. 2. Since the accident had taken place in the year 1987 when the provisions of the MV Act, 1939 were applicable, the liability of the Insurance Company had stood restricted to Rs.1,50,000/-. The additional amount which is now determined shall, therefore, become payable by the respondents 1 and 2, who were the driver and owner respectively. The amount determined shall also be distributed equally amongst all the claimants. The appeal is allowed. FAO No.377 of 1988 (O&M) - 3 - 3. The cross appeal by the Insurance Company is allowed restricting the liability to Rs.1,50,000/- as referred to above. 4. The cross objection filed by the owner/insured is dismissed. (K.KANNAN) JUDGE 05.01.2011 sanjeev