In the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh FAO No. 2662 of 2006 Date of decision:18.12.2008 Birmati and others ......Appellants Versus Bhushan and others .......Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MRS. JUSTICE SABINA Present: Mr. Rajesh Punia, Advocate, for the appellants. Mr.Paul S.Saini, Advocate, for New India Insurance Company. **** JUDGMENT SABINA, J. This is an appeal against the award dated 22.11.2005 passed by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Hisar (hereinafter referred to as 'the Tribunal'), whereby the claim petition filed by the appellants along with Rati Ram (since deceased), seeking compensation on account of death of Karambir in the motor vehicle accident, was allowed and a sum of Rs.4,46,776/- was awarded to the appellants towards compensation. The present appeal has been filed by the appellants seeking enhancement of compensation. In order to prove the income of deceased Karambir, FAO No. 2662 of 2006 -2- claimants/appellants examined Surender Kumar (PW-7), who deposed that the carry home salary of deceased Karambir was Rs.6,395/- per month. In rebuttal the respondents examined Anil Kumar (RW-2), who deposed that widow of deceased Karambir i.e. appellant No.1 Birmati was drawing Rs.1814/- per month towards family pension. While calculating the salary of the deceased, the learned Tribunal erred in deducting the amount of family pension drawn by the widow of the deceased from the net carry home salary of the deceased. The learned Tribunal should have calculated the dependency of the claimants/appellants on the basis of the carry home salary of the deceased without excluding the family pension drawn by the widow. Reliance is placed on the judgment of the Apex Court in the case of United India Insurance Co.Ltd. v. Patricia Jean Mahajan, 2002 (3) RCR (Civil) 534 (SC). The age of the deceased was 43 years at the time of accident. The learned Tribunal erred in applying the multiplier of '12' while calculating the amount of compensation. Keeping in view the age of the deceased, the appropriate multiplier in this case was '15'. After deducting one third of the income spent by the deceased on his personal expenses, the dependency of the appellants comes to Rs.4,263/- per month. Hence, the annual dependency of the appellants comes to Rs.51,156/- and after applying the multiplier of '15' the compensation comes to Rs.7,67,340/-. The claimants are FAO No. 2662 of 2006 -3- further allowed Rs.10,000/- towards loss of consortium and funeral expenses. The compensation, thus, comes to Rs.7,77,340/-. Accordingly, this appeal is allowed. The compensation awarded to the appellants, vide the impugned award, is enhanced from Rs.4,46,776/- to Rs.7,77,340/-. No order as to costs. (SABINA) JUDGE December 18, 2008 anita