FAO No.53 of 1992 -1- IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH FAO No.53 of 1992 DATE OF DECISION: February 2, 2011 SANGAT SINGH AND ANOTHER ...APPELLANTS VERSUS MOHINDER SINGH AND OTHERS ...RESPONDENTS CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE K.KANNAN. 1. Whether reporters of local papers may be allowed to see the judgement? No 2. To be referred to the reporters or not? No 3. Whether the judgement should be reported in the digest? No ---- PRESENT: NONE FOR THE APPELLANTS. MR. LALIT THAKUR, ADVOCATE FOR MR. PARDEEP GOYAL, ADVOCATE FOR THE RESPONDENTS. K.KANNAN, J.(ORAL) 1. The appeal is for enhancement of claim of compensation for the death a Cleaner in a truck by the negligent act of the driver of the truck who dashed against a tree. The Tribunal found that the negligence has been established and awarded a compensation of `25,000/- on No-fault basis under Section 140 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988/ 2. The act of the driver in dashing against a tree constitutes a res ipsa loquitor situation and negligence must be taken as established. The claim could suffer no abatement for such a negligent act and there is compulsory insurance cover for a Cleaner in the truck who is entitled to be covered under the Workmen Compensation Act. The deceased was aged 20 years and the claimants were the parents. Although it was stated that the deceased was earning 1200/- per month, but in the evidence given, it was FAO No.53 of 1992 -2- admitted that the salary was `800/-. I would take the contribution to the family, therefore, at `400/- and adopt a multiplier of 14 ad take the loss of dependency as `67,200/- and provide for additional amounts towards funeral expenses, loss to estate to round of the claim to `75,000/-. The amount in excess over what has been determined by the Tribunal will attract interest @ 6% from the date of petition till the date of payment. The amount shall be distributed equally between the claimants and the liability shall on the insurance company as insurer for the negligent act of the driver that was attributed to the insured vicariously. 3. The case is of the year 1990 and there is no representation on behalf of the appellants. I have examined the case on the basis of the records with the assistance of counsel for the insurance company. The Registry shall communicate the copy of the order to the parties directly. February 2, 2011 (K.KANNAN) Gulati JUDGE