F.A.O. No. 5217 of 2003 1 In the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, at Chandigarh. F.A.O. No. 5217 of 2003 Date of Decision: 19.12.2008 Smt. Prito Devi and Others …Appellants Versus Davinder Singh and Others …Respondents CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA. Present: Mr.S.S.Chandi, Advocate for the appellants. None for respondents No.1, 2, 4 and 5. Mr. Suveer Dewan, Advocate for respondent No.3-Oriental Insurance Company Limited, assisted by Mr. S.P. Sharma, Deputy Manager (Legal). Kanwaljit Singh Ahluwalia, J. (Oral) Ram Lal was employed as Driver in Municipal Corporation, Jalandhar. The claim petition has been filed by his wife Prito Devi, three unmarried daughters, namely Anju, Manju, and Madhu and two sons namely Raj Kumar and Vikram alias Vicky. Thus, there were six units dependents upon the income of Ram Lal. Ram Lal was driving official Gypsy when he met with an accident on 8.2.2001 at about 5.30 P.M. with a Truck Trolla bearing no. HR-38-1111. The truck was driven rashly and negligently and no horn as blown. Due to accident, Ram Lal sustained multiple grievous injuries on F.A.O. No. 5217 of 2003 2 his head and body. Karam Singh who was also travelling with Ram Lal also suffered injuries. Ram Lal was taken to the hospital where he was declared dead. Learned Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (hereinafter referred to as “the Tribunal”) held that accident had occurred due to rash and negligent driving of Davinder Singh, driver of Truck bearing No. HR-38- 1111. This truck was insured with the Oriental Insurance Company Limited. Since deceased Ram Lal was in service of Municipal Corporation, his salary was proved. He was drawing salary of Rs.10,684/- per month. Dependency of the family has been assessed as Rs.8,000/-. Therefore, only dependency of the family was arrived at Rs.96,000/- per annum. Rs.2,000/- was awarded towards funeral expenses and Rs.7,000/- towards consortium. Thus, in all Rs.7,77,0000/- was awarded. Mr. S.S. Chandi, Advocate, appearing for the appellants states that in the present case, applying of multiplier of 8 was not just and adequate. He states that multiplier of atleast 13 ought to have been applied. To controvert this, Mr. Suveer Dewan, Advocate, assisted by Mr. S.P.Sharma, Deputy Manager (Legal) states that multiplier of 11 should be adequate. I find merit in the contentions advanced by learned counsel for the Insurance Company. Therefore, multiplier of 11 ought to be applied in this case. Therefore, family of the deceased is entitled to Rs.10,56,000/- along with Rs.9,000/- already awarded as funeral expenses and F.A.O. No. 5217 of 2003 3 consortium. Therefore, in all, the appellants shall be entitled to Rs.10,65,000/-. Rs.7,77,000/- as determined by the Tribunal has been paid. Therefore, the difference will be paid to the family of the deceased along with 6% interest from the date of filing of claim petition within a period of three months from today. In view of the above observations, the present appeal is disposed off. (Kanwaljit Singh Ahluwalia) Judge December 19, 2008 “DK”