FAO No. 3312 of 2002 -1- In the High Court of Punjab & Haryana at Chandigarh FAO No. 3312 of 2002 (O&M) Date of decision : 14.1.2010 Jasvir Kaur and others ... Appellants vs Gobind Singh and others .... Respondents Coram: Hon'ble Mr. Justice Rajesh Bindal Present: Mr. B. S. Bhalla, Advocate, for the appellants. Mr. Gopal Mittal, Advocate, for the Insurance company. Rajesh Bindal J. Challenge in the present appeal is to the award of the learned Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Moga (hereinafter to be referred as “the Tribunal”), only on the ground that the multiplier applied by the Tribunal considering the age of the deceased is not correct. The brief facts of the case are that on 18.10.1999 at 6.00 p.m., Jaswant Rai along with Lachhman Singh, Jeeta Singh and 2-3 other persons of Village Mal Ke was coming from Village Hans Kalan, Tehsil Jagraon in Jeep No. DL-1-CC-0418 after attending the marriage. When they reached ahead of Police Station, Mehna, a bus bearing No. PB-10-V-9777 of New Akal and United Transport Company, Ludhiana, came from the opposite side and struck against the jeep. As a result of this, Jaswant Rai and Lachhman Singh received injuries. Jaswant Rai died on the way to Civil Hospital, Moga, due to multiple injuries. It was alleged that the accident occurred due to rash and negligent driving of the driver. The claimants filed claim petition before the learned Tribunal which was allowed. Learned counsel for the appellants raised only one argument that considering the age of the deceased in the present case as 35 years, learned Tribunal has not applied the correct multiplier which should have been 17 and not 11 as adopted. Learned counsel for the Insurance company very clearly conceded that 16 can be applied as multiplier in terms of judgment of Hon'ble the Supreme Court in Sarla Verma (Smt.) and others vs Delhi Transport Corporation and another 2009 (6) SCC 121 and not 17 on the dependency of the deceased which was assessed as Rs. 19,200/- per annum. FAO No. 3312 of 2002 -2- Learned counsel for the appellants also fairly conceded that he is agreeable to multiplier of 16 as against 11. Considering the fair stand of learned counsel for the parties, the award of the Tribunal is modified to the extent that as against 11 applied as multiplier by the Tribunal, considering the age of the deceased at the time of death, the multiplier of 16 is applied, on the dependency of the deceased as has been assessed by the Tribunal which is not in dispute, and the amount of compensation is assessed at Rs. 3,07,200/- as against Rs. 2,18,000/- as assessed by the Tribunal. The amount of compensation granted under other heads is not disturbed nor the apportionment. The claimants shall be entitled interest @ 6% on the enhanced compensation from the date of filing of claim petition till realisation. The enhanced compensation shall be divided amongst the claimants in the proportion as directed by the Tribunal. The appeal is disposed of in the above terms. 14.1.2010 ( Rajesh Bindal) vs. Judge