In the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh F.A.O. No. 4523 of 2008 Date of decision: August 11, 2009 Nisha Jain and others .. Appellants Vs. Jasbir and others .. Respondents Coram: Hon'ble Mr. Justice A.N. Jindal Present: Mr. Gaurav Jain, Advocate for Mr. Amit Kumar Jain, Advocate for the appellants. Mr. R.C. Kapoor, Advocate for the respondent No.4-Insurance Company. A.N. Jindal, J This appeal for enhancement of compensation has arisen out of the award dated 14.8.2008 passed by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Jind, whereby an award to the tune of Rs.3,27,000/- was passed on account of the death of Ram Niwas aged about 41 years, against the respondents. The Tribunal held the liability of the respondents to pay the compensation against which no appeal has been preferred by the private respondents or the Insurance Company. As regards the quantum of compensation, according to the matriculation certificate, Ram Niwas was born on 23.3.1966, whereas, the accident took place on 22.9.2006, thus, he died at the age of 41. The Tribunal did not place reliance on the income tax return showing the income of the deceased as Rs.1,25,732/- as this return was filed by Nisha Jain after the death of Ram Niwas. No reliance could be placed on such return as it was an admission made by the claimant Nisha Jain in her own favour. I find support to my this view from the judgment delivered in case Seema and others vs. Ramesh Chandra and others, IV (2007) ACC 172 (DB) and Suchitra Sinha and others vs. Baijnath and others, II (2005) ACC 543 (DB), wherein it was observed that return of income filed on behalf of the deceased after his death by his wife is not reliable and income cannot be assessed as per return. Income of the deceased could not justifiably be F.A.O. No. 4523 of 2008 -2- assessed on the basis of the income as filed in the return. Moreover, Nisha Jain while appearing in the witness box has admitted that she has no knowledge regarding the contents of the return (Ex.P7). No account books were produced in the court in order to show the actual income of Ram Niwas. Thus, the Tribunal has rightly assessed the income of the deceased at Rs.3000/- per month and after deducting 1/3rd from his income which he was contributing towards himself, the monthly dependency of the claimants comes to Rs.2000/- i.e. Rs.24,000/- per annum. However, the Tribunal fell in error while applying multiplier of 13, whereas, the multiplier of 15 should have been applied keeping in view the age of the deceased at the time of his death. As such, while applying the multiplier of 15, the compensation amount comes to Rs.3,60,000/-. Consequently, I partly accept the appeal and modify the award by way of enhancement of the compensation amount to the tune of Rs.3,75,000/- (i.e. Rs.3,60,000/- + Rs.15,000/- awarded by the Tribunal on account of loss of estate, funeral expenses and the consortium) along with interest at the same rate as awarded by the Tribunal. However, the remaining terms of award passed by the Tribunal shall remain intact. August 11, 2009 (A.N. Jindal) deepak Judge