FAO No. 851 of 1991 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA, CHANDIGARH FAO No. 851 of 1991 Date of decision January 27 , 2011 Smt. Savitri and others ....... Appellants Versus Sat Narain and others ........Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE K. KANNAN Present:- Mr. Sanjay Mittal , Advocate for the appellant. None for respondent No.1. Mr. Kunal Garg, AAG., Haryana for respondent Nos.2 and 3. **** 1. Whether reporters of local papers may be allowed to see the judgment ? No 2. To be referred to the reporters or not? No 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the digest?No K. Kannan, J (oral). 1. The appeal is for enhancement of compensation for death of a person who was working in the Revenue Department, Haryana Government. He was 26 years of age and drawing a salary of `1,338/-. The claimants were the widow and parents. The accident was said to have taken place at the time when the deceased was travelling in a scooter, was attempting to overtake a Haryana Roadways bus and got himself involved in a collision with a jeep coming from the opposite direction. Apart from PW-2, who gave evidence in support of the claimants that there was negligence on the part of the driver of the jeep, the latter had been examined as RW-1 and gave evidence to the effect that when the bus was near Hotel at Dharuhera, a Haryana Roadways bus was coming from the opposite direction from the side of Rewari. The deceased scooterist was in the process of overtaking the bus and hit against the jeep FAO No. 851 of 1991 2 on the right side. The Tribunal found that there was contributory negligence on the part of the deceased and after determining the quantum made a partial abatement of 50% of the claim and awarded `62,400/-. In the manner in which the accident had taken place and the appreciation of evidence undertaken by the Tribunal, I see no reason to interfere with the finding of the Tribunal as regards the issue of contributory negligence. 2. As regards the quantum, I would reappraise the same in the light of the decision in Sarla Verma Vs.Delhi Road Transport Corporation reported in (2009) 6 SC 121 and hold that the claimants were entitled to be considered for enhancement of compensation. The deceased would have earned increase in his salary and I would add a 50% increase and take the average salary to be `2,000/-. I will make a deduction of 1/3rd and adopt a multiplier of 17 and hold the loss of dependency at `2,89,000/-. I will provide for additional amount towards loss of consortium and also make a provision for loss of estate and funeral expenses to the extent to round off the entire claim to `3,00,000/-. Having regard to the fact that I retain the finding regarding contributory negligence, this would mean the entitlement of the claimants would be `1,50,000/- with interest. The Tribunal has already awarded `62,400/- as amount payable and the amount in excess shall attract interest at the rate of 6% per annum from the date of petition till the date of payment. The amount of increase as determined now shall be paid in the ratio of 2:1:1 between the widow and the parents of the deceased. The liability amongst the respondents shall be in the same manner as determined by the Tribunal. The appeal is allowed to the above extent. (K. KANNAN) JUDGE January 27, 2011 archana