IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH. F.A.O. No. 245 of 1988 (O.&M.) Date of Decision: 2.12.2008 Jagmohan Kaur and others. ....... Appellants through Shri M.B.Singh, Advocate. Versus Yadvinder Singh and others. ....... Respondents through Nemo. CORAM: HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE MAHESH GROVER .... 1. Whether Reporters of Local Newspapers 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? .... Mahesh Grover,J. This appeal is directed against common award dated 10.10.1987 passed by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Patiala (for short, `the Tribunal') in Petition Nos. 39 of 21.10.1986 and Petition No. 4T/87 of 11.12.1986. The appellants are the widow and three minor children of late Shri Gurcharan Singh, aged about 38 years, who lost his life in a motor vehicular accident which took place on 7.9.1986. He was working as Black- smith with the Haryana Roadways at the time of his death. Two claim petitions were filed, one by the appellants and the other by the parents of the deceased, for grant of compensation. The Tribunal awarded a total sum of Rs.1,92,000/- to the F.A.O.No.245 of 1988 (O.&M.) -2- .... claimants along with interest at the rate of 12% per annum. The widow was allowed Rs.50,000/-, whereas the children were held entitled to receive Rs.30,000/- each and the parents were given Rs.26,000/- each. The income of the deceased was taken as Rs.1393.30 which he was getting as salary and the dependency was assessed at Rs.1000/- per month. A multiplier of `16' was adopted. Dis-satisfied with the amount of compensation awarded to them, the appellants have come up in appeal. Learned counsel for the appellants contended that the salary of the deceased had been revised with effect from 1.1.1986 and in support of this contention, he has moved an application for leading additional evidence. It was, thus, contended that since the salary of the deceased stood revised from January 1,1986, the compensation should be assessed by taking the enhanced salary into consideration. After hearing the learned counsel for the parties and perusing the record, I am of the opinion that the award of the Tribunal deserves to be modified. There is certainly evidence on record to show that the deceased was drawing salary of Rs.1393.30 per month, which for the purpose of assessing the compensation, is rounded off to Rs.1395/-. It is a settled principle of law that when a person is in regular employment, then, the future prospects have also to be taken into consideration. The deceased in the instant case would have certainly progressed in his career and would have earned corresponding increase in the salary had his life not been cut F.A.O.No.245 of 1988 (O.&M.) -3- .... short. Accordingly, even if the subsequent event of the increase in the salary is not taken into account, it would still be fair to consider the future prospects for the purpose of awarding compensation. The principle to take future prospects into consideration is to double the amount of salary and to this amount, add the monthly salary which the victim was drawing and then to take average of the two figures. In this manner, the monthly income of the deceased comes to Rs.2092/- (1395 +1395 =2790 + 1395 = 4185 divided by 2 = 2092). In my opinion, a cut of 1/4th should be applied to the income of the deceased on account of his personal expenses. Thus, the dependency of the claimants comes to Rs.1569/- per month, i.e., Rs.18828/- per annum. The deceased was 38 years of age and, therefore, the multiplier of `16' as applied by the Tribunal is just and appropriate. Accordingly, the compensation works out to Rs.3,01,248/-. A sum of Rs.20,000/- is allowed on account of funeral expenses and loss of estate etc. Therefore, the total compensation payable to the claimants comes to Rs.3,21,248/- to which they are held entitled to receive along with interest at the rate of 9% per annum from the date of filing of the claim petition till the date of realisation. The liability to pay the enhanced compensation and interest shall be the same as has been determined by the Tribunal. Learned counsel for the appellants contended that the liability of the insurance company to satisfy the award is unlimited. F.A.O.No.245 of 1988 (O.&M.) -4- .... In view of the above, it is directed that the insurance company shall make the payment as per the terms of the policy. The impugned award is modified to the above extent and the appeal is allowed in the aforementioned terms. The application for additional evidence also stands disposed of. December 02,2008 ( Mahesh Grover ) “SCM” Judge