IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH FAO No. 6220 of 2010 (O&M) Date of decision: 17.10.2011 Jogindro Bai and others ....Appellants Versus Jeet Singh and others ...Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE JITENDRA CHAUHAN Present: Mr.Rajesh Lamba, Advocate for Mr.SK Arora, Advocate for the appellants Mr.Ravinder Arora, Advocate for respondent-Insurance Company ***** Jitendra Chauhan, J.(Oral) CM No. 27680 CII of 2010 Notice in the application for condonation of delay of 66 days in filing the instant appeal was issued on 30.3.2011. No reply has been filed so far. Keeping in view the averments made in the application, the delay of 66 days in filing the appeal is hereby condoned. Application stands disposed of accordingly. FAO No. 6220 of 2010 The solitary argument raised by learned counsel for the appellants is that the multiplier applied by the learned Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Ferozepur (for short 'the Tribunal') is contrary to the law FAO No. 6220 of 2010 (O&M) -2- laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Smt. Sarla Verma and others Vs. Delhi Transport Corporation and another, 2009(3) RCR (Civil) 77 . Heard. From the perusal of the record, it emerges that as per the postmortem report, the deceased was 24 years of age at the time of his death. Learned counsel for the appellants has also referred to the driving licence, according to which, the age of the deceased was also 24 years. The learned Tribunal has taken the age of the deceased as 24 years while applying the multiplier of 15, whereas, in view of the law laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Smt. Sarla Verma's case (supra), the multiplier of 18 should have been applied according to the age of the deceased. Ordered accordingly. As such, the total compensation after applying multiplier of 18, comes to ` 6,48,000/-(3000x12x18). The enhanced amount i.e. ` 1,08,000/- (6,48,000- 5,40,000) shall be paid to the claimants/appellants in the manner indicated in the impugned award within 45 days from the date of 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 present appeal till its realisation. The respondent-Insurance Company has already been granted recovery rights by the learned Tribunal, which shall remain the same regarding the enhanced amount as well. 17.10.2011 (JITENDRA CHAUHAN) gsv JUDGE