IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA, CHANDIGARH F. A. O. No.2609 of 2006 Date of Decision: December 11, 2008 Kamla Devi and others ...........Appellants Versus Madan Lal and others ..........Respondents Coram: Hon'ble Mrs.Justice Sabina Present: Mr. Sushil Bhardwaj,Advocate for the appellants. Mr.Vinod Gupta, Advocate for the New India Assurance Company Ltd. * * * Sabina, J. This is an appeal against the award dated 31.1.2006 passed by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Karnal (hereinafter referred to as `the Tribunal') seeking enhancement of compensation . The case of the claimants, in brief, is that on 16.11.2004, Jai Narain, deceased was coming from his village Hanori to Karnal on his motor cycle bearing No. HR-05-F-8632. At about 7.30 A.M, when he tried to turn towards Karnal after giving signal, a Truck bearing No. HR-45-9595 driven by respondent No.1 in a rash and negligent manner struck against his motor cycle. As a result of this, Jai Narain succumbed to the injuries at the spot. Hence, the claim petition was filed. Notice of the claim petition was issued to the respondents and they filed their written statements. On the pleadings of the parties, the following issues were framed by the Tribunal:- F. A. O. No.2609 of 2006 -2- “1. Whether the accident in question took place due to the rash and negligent driving of truck No. HR-45-9595, resulting ino death of Jai Narain? OPP 2. If issue No.1 is proved, whether the claimants are entitled to receive any compensation, if so how much and from whom? OPP 3. Whether the claimants have got no locus standi to file and maintain the present petition?OPR 4. Whether the present claim petition is bad on account of mis- joinder of necessary parties? OPR 5. Whether the driver of the offending vehicle was not holding a genuine and effective driving licence at the time of accident? OPR3 6. Relief.” Parties led their evidence in support of their case. Learned Tribunal, vide the impugned award, allowed Rs. 7,59,096/- as compensation to the claimants. Aggrieved by the inadequacy of the amount of compensation, claimants have filed the present appeal. After hearing the learned counsel for the parties, I am of the opinion, this appeal deserves to be dismissed. In the present case, the appellants are seeking enhancement of compensation allowed by the learned Tribunal vide the impugned award. As per Exhibit PD, salary of the deceased was Rs.7517/- and after deduction, his carry home salary was Rs. 5800/-. Learned Tribunal has, however, calculated the dependency of the Claimants on the basis of income of the deceased at Rs.7300/- per month, after deducting Rs 217/- , which were being deducted from the salary of the deceased towards G.I.S, F. A. O. No.2609 of 2006 -3- F.A,. P.L.I, W.L.F, NEPEU and RecCib. Instead of taking into consideration the net payable salary of the deceased, the learned Tribunal took the salary of the deceased as Rs.7300/- p.m. although it was required to take into consideration, net payable salary of the deceased after deductions for calculating the dependency. However, the Insurance Company has not challenged the impugned award by filing any appeal. A cut of one third out of this income was applied for personal expenses of the deceased and Rs. 4866/- per month were treated as dependency of the claimants and compensation was calculated after applying a multiplier of `13'. The age of the deceased was 48 years. An amount of Rs. 7.59,096/- was allowed to the claimants as compensation. Although claimants were not allowed compensation on account of funeral expenses and loss of consortium in a separate head yet keeping in view the fact that the Tribunal has allowed compensation to the tune of Rs. 7,59,096/- to the appellants by taking salary of the deceased at a higher rate, in the facts and circumstances of the present case, there is no necessity to enhance the amount of compensation. The impugned order, thus, does not call for interference. Accordingly, the appeal is being devoid of merit and the same is dismissed with no order as to costs. ( Sabina ) Judge December 11, 2008 arya