` IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH FAO No.3268 of 2006 (O&M) Date of decision: 22.07.2010 National Insurance Company Limited ....Appellant versus Harpinder Kaur and others ....Respondents II. FAO No.456 of 2007 (O&M) Harpinder Kaur and others ....Appellants versus Amrik Singh and others ....Respondents CORAM:HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE K. KANNAN ----- Present: Mr.R.C.Gupta, Advocate, for the appellant in FAO No.3268 of 2006 and for respondent No.3 in FAO No.456 of 2007. None for others respondents. ----- 1. Whether reporters of local papers may be allowed to see the judgment ? 2. To be referred to the reporters or not ? 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the digest ? ---- K.Kannan, J. (Oral) 1. In both the cases, the claim of the Insurance Company is that at the relevant time of the accident on 13.11.2003, the driver did not have a valid driving licence. It was elicited through the evidence of RW-1, FAO No.3268 of 2006 (O&M) - 2 - Dharamvir Singh, Clerk, DTO office, Fatehgarh Sahib that the driving licence issued on 10.04.2000 at Fatehgarh Sahib was renewed upto 27.03.2003. The original licence had been issued by the authority at Dehradun in the name of Amrik Singh son of Gurnail Singh while the driver of the vehicle was Amrik Singh son of Gurdial Singh. In this case, either the original issue of licence did not conform to the name of the driver or if it is to be taken that the original referred also to him the renewal was only upto 27.03.2003 and there was no record to show renewal for any period subsequent to that date. Under the circumstances, the Tribunal ought to have held in relying of the authority of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in National Insurance Company Limited Versus Jarnail Singh-2007(15) SCC 28 and New India Insurance Company Limited Versus Suresh Chander Aggarwal-2009(15) SCC 761 that there was no scope for making the insurer liable so as to provide for a right of indemnity to the insured. The award of the Tribunal is, under the circumstances, modified to make the insurer liable only to satisfy the claimants and obtain a right of recovery against the insured. 2. There is an appeal by the claimants for enhancement of the award. The claimants were wife, minor child and mother of the deceased, who was 26 years of age at the time of his death. He was an agriculturist and the Tribunal took the extent of dependency at Rs.40,000/-, adopted a multiplier of 12 and determined the compensation of Rs.4,80,000/-. In my view, the choice of multiplier was not correct for a person aged 26 years and the appropriate multiplier must have been 17 and the amount of extent of dependency must have been arrived at Rs.6,80,000/-. To this FAO No.3268 of 2006 (O&M) - 3 - must added the conventional heads of claims of loss to estate, loss of consortium to the wife, loss of affection for the child and funeral expenses for which I will add Rs.20,000/- and in all, the amount payable would be Rs.7 lakhs. The Tribunal has awarded Rs.4,80,000/- and the claimants would be entitled to an additional amount of Rs.2,20,000/-. This additional amount shall bear interest at 7.5% from the date of the award passed by the Tribunal till the date of payment. Out of this additional amount of Rs.2,20,000/-, the mother will have the benefit of additional Rs.30,000/-. The widow will have Rs.1 lakh and the minor son will have Rs.90,000/- The additional amount payable to the mother shall be released immediately and the amount for the widow shall remain in deposit for a further period of 5 years and the minor's amount shall also remain in deposit and the child will be entitled only to interest accumulations. The claimants are at liberty to suggest to the Tribunal appropriate scheme for investment which is most beneficial to them. The appeals filed by the claimants are allowed to that extent and the liability of the insurer shall also be attracted but having regard to the findings rendered in the connected appeal, the insurer shall be entitled to a right of recovery for this additional sum as well against the insured. (K.KANNAN) JUDGE 22.07.2010 sanjeev