FAO No.427 of 1990 -1- IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH 1. FAO No.427 of 1990 DATE OF DECISION: February 28, 2011 KUMARI BALJIT KAUR ...APPELLANT VERSUS BHAJAN SINGH AND OTHERS ...RESPONDENTS PRESENT: MR. JASBEER SINGH, ADVOCATE FOR MR. S.D. BANSAL, ADVOCATE FOR THE APPELLANT. MR. ARJUN LAKHANPAL, ADVOCATE FOR RESPONDENT NO.1. NONE FOR RESPONDENTS NO.2, 4 AND 5. MR. PAUL S. SAINI, ADVOCATE FOR RESPONDENT NO.3. MR. VIVEK SINGAL, ADVOCATE FOR RESPONDENT NO.6. 2. FAO No.428 of 1990 SMT. SWARAN KAUR AND ANOTHER ...APPELLANTS VERSUS BHAJAN SINGH AND OTHERS ...RESPONDENTS PRESENT: MR. JASBEER SINGH, ADVOCATE FOR MR. S.D. BANSAL, ADVOCATE FOR THE APPELLANT. MR. ARJUN LAKHANPAL, ADVOCATE FOR RESPONDENT NO.1. NONE FOR RESPONDENT NO.2. MR. PAUL S. SAINI, ADVOCATE FOR RESPONDENT NO.3. 3. FAO No.429 of 1990 JOGINDER SINGH AND OTHERS ...APPELLANTS FAO No.427 of 1990 -2- VERSUS BHAJAN SINGH AND OTHERS ...RESPONDENTS PRESENT: MR. JASBEER SINGH, ADVOCATE FOR MR. S.D. BANSAL, ADVOCATE FOR THE APPELLANT. MR. ARJUN LAKHANPAL, ADVOCATE FOR RESPONDENT NO.1. NONE FOR RESPONDENT NO.2. MR. PAUL S. SAINI, ADVOCATE FOR RESPONDENT NO.3. 4. FAO No.431 of 1990 DATE OF DECISION: February 28, 2011 BALKAR SINGH AND OTHERS ...APPELLANTS VERSUS BHAJAN SINGH AND OTHERS ...RESPONDENTS PRESENT: MR. JASBEER SINGH, ADVOCATE FOR MR. S.D. BANSAL, ADVOCATE FOR THE APPELLANT. MR. ARJUN LAKHANPAL, ADVOCATE FOR RESPONDENT NO.1. NONE FOR RESPONDENT NO.2. MR. PAUL S. SAINI, ADVOCATE FOR RESPONDENT NO.3. 5. FAO No.457 of 1990 SMT. BALWANT KAUR AND OTHERS ...APPELLANTS VERSUS BHAJAN SINGH AND OTHERS ...RESPONDENTS PRESENT: MR. JASBEER SINGH, ADVOCATE FOR MR. S.D. BANSAL, ADVOCATE FOR THE APPELLANT. MR. ARJUN LAKHANPAL, ADVOCATE FAO No.427 of 1990 -3- FOR RESPONDENT NO.1. NONE FOR RESPONDENTS NO.2, 4 AND 5. MR. PAUL S. SAINI, ADVOCATE FOR RESPONDENT NO.3. MR. VIVEK SINGAL, ADVOCATE FOR RESPONDENT NO.6. 6. FAO No.426 of 1990 VIRENDER SINGH ...APPELLANT VERSUS BHAJAN SINGH AND OTHERS ...RESPONDENTS PRESENT: MR. JASBEER SINGH, ADVOCATE FOR MR. S.D. BANSAL, ADVOCATE FOR THE APPELLANT. MR. ARJUN LAKHANPAL, ADVOCATE FOR RESPONDENT NO.1. NONE FOR RESPONDENT NO.2. MR. PAUL S. SAINI, ADVOCATE FOR RESPONDENT NO.3. 7. FAO No.711 of 1989 BHAJAN SINGH ...APPELLANT VERSUS HARJINDER SINGH AND OTHERS ...RESPONDENTS PRESENT: MR. ARJUN LAKHANPAL, ADVOCATE FOR THE APPELLANT. MR. JASBEER SINGH, ADVOCATE FOR MR. S.D. BANSAL, ADVOCATE FOR RESPONDENT NO.1. NONE FOR RESPONDENT NO.2, 4 AND 5. MR. PAUL S. SAINI, ADVOCATE FOR RESPONDENT NO.3. MR. VIVEK SINGAL, ADVOCATE FAO No.427 of 1990 -4- FOR RESPONDENT NO.6. 8. FAO No.712 of 1989 BHAJAN SINGH ...APPELLANT VERSUS BALWANT KAUR AND OTHERS ...RESPONDENTS PRESENT: MR. ARJUN LAKHANPAL, ADVOCATE FOR THE APPELLANT. MR. JASBEER SINGH, ADVOCATE FOR MR. S.D. BANSAL, ADVOCATE FOR RESPONDENT NO.1 TO 5. NONE FOR RESPONDENT NO.6, 8, 9 AND 10. MR. PAUL S. SAINI, ADVOCATE FOR RESPONDENT NO.7. MR.VIVEK SINGAL, ADVOCATE FOR RESPONDENT NO.10. 9. FAO No.713 of 1989 BHAJAN SINGH ...APPELLANT VERSUS SMT. SWARAN KAUR AND ANOTHER ...RESPONDENTS PRESENT: MR. ARJUN LAKHANPAL, ADVOCATE FOR THE APPELLANT. MR. JASBEER SINGH, ADVOCATE FOR MR. S.D. BANSAL, ADVOCATE FOR RESPONDENT NO.1 & 2. NONE FOR RESPONDENT NO.3. MR. PAUL S. SAINI, ADVOCATE FOR RESPONDENT NO.3. 10. FAO No.714 of 1989 BHAJAN SINGH ...APPELLANT VERSUS BALKAR AND OTHERS ...RESPONDENTS FAO No.427 of 1990 -5- PRESENT: MR. ARJUN LAKHANPAL, ADVOCATE FOR THE APPELLANT. MR. JASBEER SINGH, ADVOCATE FOR MR. S.D. BANSAL, ADVOCATE FOR RESPONDENT NO.1 TO 3. NONE FOR RESPONDENT NO.4 AND 5. MR. PAUL S. SAINI, ADVOCATE FOR RESPONDENT NO.6. 11. FAO No.715 of 1989 BHAJAN SINGH ...APPELLANT VERSUS VIRENDER SINGH AND OTHERS ...RESPONDENTS PRESENT: MR. ARJUN LAKHANPAL, ADVOCATE FOR THE APPELLANT. MR. JASBEER SINGH, ADVOCATE FOR MR. S.D. BANSAL, ADVOCATE FOR RESPONDENT NO.1. NONE FOR RESPONDENT NO.2. MR. PAUL S. SAINI, ADVOCATE FOR RESPONDENT NO.3. 12. FAO No.716 of 1989 BHAJAN SINGH ...APPELLANT VERSUS JOGINDER AND OTHERS ...RESPONDENTS PRESENT: MR. ARJUN LAKHANPAL, ADVOCATE FOR THE APPELLANT. MR. JASBEER SINGH, ADVOCATE FOR MR. S.D. BANSAL, ADVOCATE FOR RESPONDENT NO.1 TO 4.. NONE FOR RESPONDENT NO.5. MR. PAUL S. SAINI, ADVOCATE FOR RESPONDENT NO.6. FAO No.427 of 1990 -6- 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 ---- K.KANNAN, J.(ORAL) 1. All these appeals are connected. All the cases involved a collision of two vehicles, namely, the tractor-trolley that had been insured with National Insurance and a truck that had been insured with New India Assurance. The collision had resulted in injury to one person and death of 5 other persons. FAO Nos.427, 428, 429, 431, 457, 426 of 1990 are cases for enhancement of claim for compensation for death and FAO Nos.711, 712, 713, 714, 715 and 716 of 1989 are at the instance of the truck owner. 2. Before adverting to the quantum of compensation, the issue of liability becomes relevant for, in this case having found that the truck driver was responsible for the accident, the liability had been fastened only on the owner of the truck who was transferee of the vehicle from the registered owner. The insurance company, however, was exonerated on the ground that the transferee had not informed the insurance company and therefore, there was no contract of insurance between the transferee and the insurer. This issue has bee considered by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in G.Govindan vs. New India Assurance Company, AIR 1999 SC 1398 that held that third party victim cannot be made to suffer by the failure of the registered owner or the transferee from informing the insurance company. The Hon'ble Supreme Court had noticed the divergent views amongst various High Courts and settled the law to hold the insurer liable in such situations. The provision of law has been expressly stated so under the Motor Vehicles Act FAO No.427 of 1990 -7- of 1988 by a specifically providing for a deemed transfer under Section 157. It is indeed a legislative affirmation of the status of law which prevailed and which was upheld through the decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Govindan's case (supra) referred to above. The Tribunal could not have exonerated the insurer for the claims arising out of third parties. All the claims were for deaths or injuries arising to 'third parties'.a 3. The findings to the contrary by the Tribunal are vacated and all the claims for compensation will be, therefore, addressed for quantum and I make the insurance company liable for all the claims arising out of third parties, provided, however, the insurer shall not be made liable in terms of Section 95A(2)(a) of the Motor Vehicles Act of 1939 that the liability in any one accident pertaining to a claim shall stand pegged down at `1,50,000/-. FAO No.427 of 1990 4. The claimants were the husband and daughter of the deceased who was a housewife and who was alleged to be associated with her husband in agricultural operations. It was stated in evidence that she was earning `20-`30 rupees per day and the mother-in-law was also examined to say that her daughter-in-law would work in the fields alongwith the husband for at least 20-25 days. The Tribunal took the value of the services of the householder as well as the contribution to the family at `250/-, adopted a multiplier of 12 and assessed the compensation for `30,000/-. I will take the contribution to the family at `500/- and take the multiplier of 12 as taken by the Tribunal and reassess the loss of dependency at `72,000/- and make a further addition of `8000/- towards loss of consortium to the husband and loss of love and affection for the child and funeral expenses to FAO No.427 of 1990 -8- round of the over-all compensation at `80,000/-. The amount in excess over what has already been awarded by the Tribunal shall attract interest @ 6% from the date of petition till the date of payment. It appears that during the course of appeal, the husband has also died. The amount shall be paid to the surviving claimant. FAO No.428 of 1990 5. FAO No.428 of 1990 addresses the compensation claimed by the appellants for death of a child aged 6-7 years. The Tribunal had awarded `15,000/- as compensation. I will increase it to `50,000/- and make also a provision for interest at 6% from the date of petition till the date of payment. The claimants shall take it equally. FAO No.429 of 1990 6. FAO No.429 of 1990 is for claim for compensation for the death of a householder aged 45 years. The Tribunal had awarded a compensation taking the value of her services at `200/-. I will raise the same to `500/- and adopt the same multiplier and determine the loss of dependency at `60,000/- and add additional `5000/- for the conventional heads, such as funeral expenses, loss of consortium. The total compensation will be `65,000/- and the amount over what has been awarded by the Tribunal will draw interest @ 6% from the date of petition till the date of payment. The amount will be distributed amongst the claimants equally. FAO No.431 of 1990 7. FAO No.431 of 1990 addresses the issue of compensation for enhancement for the death of first claimant's wife who was aged 30 years. I will take the value of the services of the deceased at `500/- again and adopt FAO No.427 of 1990 -9- a multiplier of 16 and take the loss of dependency at `96,000/- and will add `14,000/- towards loss of consortium, loss of love and affection for the children and funeral expenses to round off the figure to `1,10,000/-. The amount in excess over what has already been awarded by the Tribunal shall attract interest @ 6% from the date of petition till the date of payment. The additional amount will be distributed equally amongst the husband and the children. FAO No.457 of 1990 8. The papers of FAO No.457 of 1990 are destroyed in fire and a copy of the type set is provided by the counsel appearing for the appellant. The copy will substitute the original records and will be taken as duly reconstructed. 9. This case addresses the issue for claim of compensation for death of a 60 years old man whose income was assessed at `200/- and the compensation was assessed at `25,000/-. I will take the income to be `500/- and adopt a multiplier of 9 to determine the loss of dependency at `54000/- and add another `6000/- towards the conventional heads of claim increase the compensation to `60,000/-. The amount in excess over what has already been awarded by the Tribunal shall attract interest @ 6% from the date of petition till the date of payment and the amount shall be distributed amongst the claimants equally. FAO No.426 of 1990 10. The claim is for enhancement of compensation for fracture which the claimant had that on the 3rd meta carpal bone with no calous formation and a fracture of lower jaw right side. He had claimed that he FAO No.427 of 1990 -10- spent about `10,000/- but he produced no proof of the same. The Tribunal allowed for `5000/-. I will estimate the medical expenses to be 2500/- and make further provision of `10,000/- which he had suffered. I will enhance the compensation from `5000/- to `12,500/-. The additional amount of compensation will bear interest at 6% from the date of petition till the date of payment. Consistent with the finding which I have already entered that the insurance company will be liable to 3rd party by virtue of transfer of vehicle, irrespective of the fact that whether the transferee had informed them in terms of the law laid down by the Hon'ble Superior Court, for all the awards emanating from the respective claims. The liability shall be on the insurance company for the truck, namely, the New India Assurance Company. 11 All the appeals are disposed of as above. February 28, 2011 (K.KANNAN) Gulati JUDGE