FAO No.2651 of 2007 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH FAO No.2651 of 2007 Date of Decision:28.07.2009 Kashmir Singh & anr. .... appellants Versus Usha Rani & ors. .....respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE RAKESH KUMAR GARG Present: Mr.Ashwani Talwar, Advocate for the appellants Mr.J.S.Coonar, Advocate for respondent Nos.1 to 4. **** RAKESH KUMAR GARG J.(ORAL): The present appeal has been filed by the driver and owner of the offending vehicle challenging the impugned Award on the ground that compensation awarded to the claimants is excessive as the deceased who was a labourer was aged about 40 years and therefore the multiplier of 16 applied by the Tribunal was on the higher side. I have perused the impugned Award and considered the arguments raised by the counsel for the parties. Taking the monthly income of the deceased as Rs.2500/-, the Tribunal imposed a cut of Rs.800/- towards his personal expenses and determined the monthly dependency of dependents at Rs.1700/-per month only and determined the compensation at Rs.3,26,400/- by applying a multiplier of 16. It is well settled that the compensation cannot be determined by a strait-jacket formula and there is always some element of guess work. In the case of Smt. Sarla Verma & Ors. Versus Delhi Transport Corporation & anr. 2009(3)RCR (Civil) 77, Hon'ble the FAO No.2651 of 2007 2 Supreme Court of India observed that in a case where the age of the deceased was 40, a multiplier of 15 should be applied. In this judgment, it was further held that where number of dependent family members is 4 to 6, deduction on account of personal expenses of the deceased should be 1/4th. In the present case, the total income of the deceased was determined at Rs.2500/- per month and if we apply the aforesaid principles as laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India in Sarla Verma's case (supra), the annual dependency of the deceased comes to Rs.1875 x 12 = 22500/- and by applying the multiplier of 15, the total compensation which is payable to the respondents comes to Rs.3,37,500/- whereas in this case, the Tribunal has granted a sum of Rs.3,26,400/- on this account. Thus, keeping in view all the facts and circumstances, I do not find any reasons to interfere in the Award of the Tribunal. Dismissed. (RAKESH KUMAR GARG) JUDGE 28.07.2009 neenu