FAO No.2275 of 1999 -1- IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH FAO No.2275 of 1999 DATE OF DECISION: March 3, 2011 JASBIR KAUR AND OTHERS ...APPELLANTS VERSUS NARINDER 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: MR. ARIHANT JAIN, ADVOCATE AND MR. RISHAV JAIN, ADVOCATE FOR THE APPELLANTS. NONE FOR RESPONDENTS NO.1, 2, 4 AND 5. MR. NEERAJ KHANNA, ADVOCATE FOR MR. RAVINDER ARORA, ADVOCATE FOR RESPONDENT NO.3. K.KANNAN, J.(ORAL) 1. The appeal is for enhancement of claim of compensation for death of a male aged 40 years. The claimants were widow, three minor children and a parent. The accident had taken place on 2.11.1995, at a time when the deceased had come on holiday to India and when he was travelling in a bus. The accident resulted by a collision with the truck and the Tribunal found that the driver of the truck was responsible for the accident. 2. In the manner of determining the compensation, the Tribunal held that although proof was adduced to the effect that he was being paid 2500/- Dirhams with overtime and the Indian currency equivalent would have been about `35,000/- per month, the Tribunal reasoned that he would FAO No.2275 of 1999 -2- not have earned the same amount for the entire length of his life. The Tribunal observed that he would have, at best, lived away from India on such a salary for 4-5 years and took, therefore, the average income to be `3000/- per month. I have not the evidence before me even now to know as to how long he had been living away. What has elicited in the evidence was that he was on contract from April, 1995 to September, 1995. Even the certificate issued by the employer does not give out the details of the length of the contract. In my view, the quality of evidence is not good enough to sustain the claim that he would have earned `25,000/- for the rest of his possible career upto 58 or 60 years. Instead of taking the income at `3000/-, I will take the average contribution to the family at `5000/- and proceed to determine the compensation. I will also provide for conventional heads of claim like loss of consortium, loss to estate and funeral expenses and tabulate the compensation as below:- Fatal Accidents Age: 40 Occupation Driver, UAE Claimants Widow, 3 minor children and parent Heads of Claim Tribunal High Court Sr.No. Amount ` Amount ` 1. Annual Income 3000 2. Add % of increase 30%/50% Nil 3. Deduction (1/2,1/3, 1/4, 1/5) 4. Multiplicand 5. Multiplier 5000 x 12 6. Loss of Dependence 15 15 7. Medical Expenses 9,00,000 8. Loss of Consortium + loss of love and affection 12,500 9. Loss to Estate 5000 10. Funeral Expenses 5000 FAO No.2275 of 1999 -3- Fatal Accidents Total 3,62,000/- 9,22,500/- 3. The amount of increase over what has been determined by the Tribunal shall attract interest @ 6% from the date of petition till the date of payment. 4. The distribution of the amount shall in the same manner as provided by the Tribunal and the liability shall also be in the manner as provided by the Tribunal. 5. The appeal is allowed to the above extent. March 3, 2011 (K.KANNAN) Gulati JUDGE