FAO No.1818 of 2011 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH FAO No.1818 of 2011 Date of decision: 8.11.2011 Jamna Devi @ Jamuna ....Appellants Versus Hanumant Yadav and others ...Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE JITENDRA CHAUHAN Present: Mr.Vivek Suri, Advocate for the appellants None for respondent Nos. 1 and 2. Mr.Ravinder Arora, Advocate for respondent No.3 ***** Jitendra Chauhan, J.(Oral) The present appeal has been filed by the claimant/appellants seeking enhancement of the compensation amount awarded by the learned Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Panchkula (for short 'the Tribunal') vide award dated 16.9.2010 on account of death of Raj Pal. Learned counsel for the appellants contends that as per the affidavit Ex.PA, tendered by the wife of the deceased, the age of the deceased was 45 years at the time of his death and he was earning ` 10,000/- per month but the learned Tribunal has assessed his income as ` 32,00/- per month, which is inadequate. He further contends that the learned Tribunal has awarded a meager amount of ` 5000/- towards funeral and last rites expenses and ` 5000/- towards loss of consortium. FAO No.1818 of 2011 2 On the other hand, learned counsel for the respondent- Insurance Company contends that the compensation awarded by the learned Tribunal is just and adequate and there is no scope of any enhancement. I have heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the record carefully. From the perusal of the record, it emerges that the death of Raj Pal, husband of appellant No.1 and father of the appellant Nos. 2 to 5, occurred in the accident. There being no proof of income, the learned Tribunal taking him as daily wager/labourer, assessed his income as ` 32,00/-, which is inadequate because as per the Notification dated 27.6.2007 issued by the Labour Department, Haryana Government, under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, the minimum wage of an unskilled worker has been prescribed as ` 3510/- per month. Therefore, the same is to be assessed as ` 3510/- per month. The learned Tribunal has applied a cut of 1/5th towards his personal and living expenses, which is adequate as there are six dependents. Regarding the age, there being no other documentary proof, the learned Tribunal has considered his age as 60 years as per the postmortem report and has rightly applied the multiplier of 9 as per Smt. Sarla Verma and others Vs. Delhi Transport Corporation and another, 2009(3) RCR (Civil) 77 . Further, the deceased was the only bread earner in the family. It was a great shock to the family on account of his death. Therefore, the amount awarded under the conventional heads is on the lower side. Further, an amount of ` 10000/-, over and above the already awarded towards loss of consortium, funeral and last rites expenses, is awarded to the FAO No.1818 of 2011 3 appellants under the conventional heads, which would meet the ends of justice. In view of the above, the total compensation towards dependency comes to ` 3,03264/- (3510 x 4/5 x 12 x 9). The balance amount i.e. ` 26784/- (3,03264 – 2,76,480, which has already been awarded) plus ` 10000/- (total `36784/) shall be paid to the appellants in the manner indicated in the impugned award within 45 days from the receipt of the certified copy of the judgment, failing which, the same shall carry interest @ 7.5% per annum from the date of filing of the appeal, till its realisation. In view of above, the present appeal is partly allowed with the modification indicated above. 8.11.2011 (JITENDRA CHAUHAN) gsv JUDGE