F.A.O.NO. 636 OF 1993 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH F.A.O.NO. 636 OF 1993 and Cross Objection No. 3-CII of 1995 Date of decision:7th February, 2011 Darbara Singh .......Appellant Versus Smt. Vinod Bala and others ........Respondents BEFORE: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE K.KANNAN Present: Mr. Nand Lal Sammi, Advocate, for the appellant. Mr. Vivek Suri, Advocate for 1 to 3 cross objectors-respondents. Mr. Vivek Singal, Advocate for respondent No. 4. 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 at the instance of the owner-driver, is on the ground that the award assessed for death of the son of the first claimant Deepak Kumar was on the higher side. The deceased was 20 years of age and said to be scooter-car mechanic. He was earning `3,000/- per month. The claimants were the mother, one sister and one brother. The Tribunal found the driver of the motor vehicle as responsible for the accident and while assessing the compensation, took the income at `900/- per month and assessed a compensation at F.A.O.NO. 636 OF 1993 2 `48,000/-. The Insurance Company was exonerated on the ground that the licence was found to be fake and that only the owner and driver shall be responsible for the payment of compensation. 2. As regards the quantum, the deceased was merely 20 years of age and as regards income, there was no better evidence than the oral assertion. The Tribunal took the income to be `900/- for the relevant time when the accident took place in the year 1990. I can not fault with the same. I will not go as low as `600/- p.m towards the family contribution instead I would adopt `750/- as contribution to the family and adopt a multiplier of 14 and finding loss of dependence to `1,26,000/- and further provide for `14,000/- towards conventional heads of claim, including loss of consortium for the mother, loss of love and affection for brother and a sister, loss to estate and funeral expenses. In all, I would round off figure that will become payable at `1,50,000/-. The amount in excess over what has already been awarded by the Tribunal shall attract interest at 6% from the date of the petition till the date of payment. . The additional amount awarded will be borne by the Insurance Company and in turn, it shall have a right of recovery against the owner-driver for violation of the terms of policy. The award of the Tribunal is modified to the above extent. The appeal is dismissed and the cross objection is allowed to the extent indicated above. [K.KANNAN] JUDGE 7th February, 2011 Shivani Kaushik