FAO No. 4467 of 2007 -1- In the High Court of Punjab & Haryana at Chandigarh FAO No. 4467 of 2007 (O&M) Date of decision : 19.1.2010 Smt. Saraswati Gurung and another ... Appellants vs Dharminder and others .... Respondents Coram: Hon'ble Mr. Justice Rajesh Bindal Present: Mr. Durgesh Aggarwal, Advocate, for the appellants. Mr. Sanjay Jain, Advocate, for respondents no. 1 and 2. Mr. Palvinder Singh, Senior Deputy Advocate General, Punjab, for respondent no. 3. Mr. Vishal Chaudhary, Advocate, for respondent no. 4. Rajesh Bindal J. Challenge in the present appeal is to the award of the learned Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Ambala, only on the ground that the multiplier applied by the Tribunal considering the age of the deceased is not correct. Admittedly, the Tribunal has considered the age of the deceased as 32 years at the time of his death and his monthly dependency was assessed at Rs. 7,742/-, which was rounded of to Rs. 93,000/- per annum and after applying the multiplier of 10, the compensation of Rs. 9,30,000/- has been awarded. Besides this, the Tribunal has also awarded Rs. 20,000/-, for funeral expenses and loss of consortium and finally a sum of Rs. 9,50,000/- has been awarded. Briefly the facts of the case are that on 1.12.2003 Chin Kazi Gurung was traveling in Tata Sumo bearing No. PB-12-C-6223 from Chandigarh to Dehradun, which was being driven by respondent no. 1 in a rash and negligent manner and at a very high speed. When the said Tata Sumo reached ahead of Village Shahpur, Police Station Naraingarh in between Villages Hamidpur and Shahpur at about 4.30 P.M., the driver lost control over the same, resultantly the Tata Sumo went off the road into the ditches. Due to the accident, Chin Kazi Gurung suffered multiple injuries and died at the spot. FIR was registered and post mortem was done at Civil Hospital, Naraingarh on the next day. The deceased was serving as a Naik in the Military. The claimants filed petition claiming compensation. The Tribunal passed the award granting compensation to the claimants by applying the multiplier of 10 which is impugned in the present appeal. FAO No. 4467 of 2007 -2- Learned counsel for the appellants submitted that the claimants have specifically stated in the claim petition that the deceased was 28 years of age at the time of death and in terms of the scheduled of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, considering the age, the multiplier of 17 deserves to be applied. Learned counsel for the respondents could not dispute the fact that correct multiplier has not been applied by the Tribunal considering the age of the deceased. After hearing learned counsel for the parties, the award of the Tribunal is modified to the extent multiplication of 10 has been applied by the Tribunal. The award of the Tribunal has not been contested by the Insurance company by filing an appeal. Considering the age of the deceased at the time of death which was found as 32 years by the Tribunal, the multiplier of 17 is applied and the amount of compensation is assessed at Rs. 15,81,000/- as against Rs. 9,30,000/-. After adding Rs. 20,000/- granted by the Tribunal on account of funeral expenses and loss of consortium, total amount of compensation comes out to Rs. 16,01,000/-, which is rounded of to Rs. 16,00,000/-. The claimants/appellants shall be entitled interest @ 6% on the enhanced compensation from the date of filing of claim petition till realisation. The mother of the deceased would be entitled to Rs. 1,25,000/- out of the enhanced compensation. The remaining enhanced compensation shall be divided between the claimants as per the award of the Tribunal. Intimation about the judgment of this court granting compensation be sent to respondent no. 5, the mother of the deceased, by this Court. 19.1.2010 ( Rajesh Bindal) vs. Judge