FAO No. 1010 of 1991 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA, CHANDIGARH FAO No. 1010 of 1991 Date of decision January 19, 2011 Charan Dass and another ....... Appellants Versus Satwinder Singh and another ........Respondents FAO No. 1019 of 1991 Smt. Vijay and others ....... Appellant Versus Satwinder Singh and another ........Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE K. KANNAN Present:- Mr. Ashok Gupta, Advocate for the appellants. Mr. Tejinder Singh, Advocate Mr. Paul S. Saini , Advocate for respondent No.3. None for respondent Nos. 1 and 2. **** 1. Whether reporters of local papers may be allowed to see the judgment ? No 2. To be referred to the reporters or not? No 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the digest? Yes K. Kannan, J (oral). 1. Both the appeals arise out of the same accident. Two petitions had been filed, one at the instance of the widow and children and another at the instance of the parents. Appeal No.1099 of 1991 is at the instance of the widow and children for enhancement and FAO No.1010 of 1991 is at the instance of the parents seeking for enhancement. FAO No. 1010 of 1991 2 2. The deceased was 30 years of age and said to have been engaged in the business of vending of liquor in dealership. He was an income tax assessee and income tax returns had been filed from the year 1984. The income which had been filed immediately on his death for the particular year before he died was `39,000/- but while taking the income the Tribunal took the average income for 6 years and took that to be the income which he was earning. The method of arriving at average income by taking whatever documents had been filed may not be appropriate for in the same case if he had filed income tax return for 10 years and for a man who had commenced his business in a modest way with no income, the average income cannot mean taking nil income for one year and making division for such an year also. The income tax returns at least showed one aspect that there had been gradual increase in income for every year over the previous year's income. In secured employments, Courts have taken the prospect of increase of income as a relevant factor and provided for increase from 30% to 50%. But in business also one might expect reasonable increase as one progresses and obtains experience in the trade. Even if an increase is not made, there ought not to be a reduction of income from what was assessed for the particular year when he died. When the income that was shown for the assessment year proceeding his death was `39,000/-, to scale down the income to `25,000/- and by taking an average of income for 5 years does not appear to me to be either scientific or correct, I will take therefore income to be `29,000/- and having regard to the size of the family with six persons being supported, I would provide for a 1/4th deduction for personal expenses and take the contribution to the family at `29,250/-. He was aged 30 years and I would adopt a multiplier of 17 and taking loss of dependency at `4,79,250/-, I will add `5,000/- towards loss of consortium and `2,500/- for each one of the minor children and also make other addition of `5,000/- FAO No. 1010 of 1991 3 towards loss of estate and `2500/- for funeral expenses. The total compensation payable will be `5,17,250/-. The Tribunal has already awarded compensation at `2,68,720/- and the amount in excess shall also attract interest at the rate of 6% per annum from the date of petition till the date of payment. The distribution of the compensation for the enhanced amount shall be in the same proportion as already determined by the Tribunal amongst the parents, on the one hand and widow and children of the deceased on the other. As amongst the widow and children the enhanced portion of amount which goes to their share in the manner worked out above shall be distributed equally. 3. The liability for paying the compensation shall be in the same manner as determined by the Tribunal. The appeals are allowed to the above extent. (K. KANNAN) JUDGE January 19, 2011 archana