FAO No.1066 of 2011 (O&M) 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH FAO No.1066 of 2011 (O&M) ( In MACT No.141 of 2007) Date of decision: 25.11.2011 Smt.Suresh Kaur and others ...Appellants Versus Ramesh Kumar and others ...Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE JITENDRA CHAUHAN Present: Mr.Dharampal Gill, Advocate for the appellants. Ms.Rajwinder Kaur, Advocate for respondent No.3-Insurance Company **** Jitendra Chauhan, J. (Oral) CM No.2763-CII of 2011 Heard. Despite notice, reply has not been filed by the respondents. Keeping in view the averments made in the application, delay of 4 days in filing the appeal is hereby condoned. Application stands disposed of. FAO No. 1066 of 2011 The present appeal has been filed by the claimants-appellants, seeking enhancement of the compensation amount awarded by the learned Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Bhiwani, (for short 'the Tribunal'), vide award dated 7.6.2010, on account of the death of Ram Niwas, in a motor vehicular accident on 23.11.2006. FAO No.1066 of 2011 (O&M) 2 Learned counsel for the appellants has contended that the learned Tribunal, while assessing the dependency and applying multiplier, ignored the norms laid down by Hon'ble the Supreme Court in Smt. Sarla Verma and others Vs. Delhi Transport Corporation and Another, 2009 (3) RCR (Civil) 77. He further contends that the amount awarded by the learned Tribunal under the conventional heads is also inadequate. On the other hand, learned counsel for the respondent- Insurance Company has contended that learned Tribunal has awarded a just and adequate compensation. Therefore, there is no scope for any further enhancement. I have heard the learned counsel for the parties and perused the record carefully. A perusal of the record would reveal that the deceased died in the road accident at the age of 33 years, which fact is revealed from his PAN Card. The monthly income of the deceased, taking him to be a commission agent, was assessed as `.4500/-. The deceased left behind him five dependents including wife, three minor children and the mother. The learned Tribunal deducted 1/3rd income of the deceased towards his personal expenses, applied a multiplier of 14 and thus, arrived at the compensation of `.5,04,000/-. Besides this, `.5000/- was awarded towards funeral and last rites, and `.5000/- towards loss of consortium. According to the norms laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Smt. Sarla Verma's case (supra), 1/4th amount should have been deducted towards personal expenses of the deceased, as there are five dependents and a multiplier of 16 ought to have been applied, as the FAO No.1066 of 2011 (O&M) 3 deceased was 33 years of age at the time of accident. Ordered accordingly. Further, untimely death of deceased was a great shock to the family. He was the only bread earner in the family. Therefore, the amount awarded under the conventional heads is on the lower side and the same is enhanced to the extent of `.20,000/-. Resultantly, the total compensation comes to `.6,68,000/- (4500 (p.m. income) x 3/4(dependency) x 12 x 16 (Multiplier) + 20,000 (conventional heads). The balance amount i.e. `.1,54,000/- (6,68,,000- 5,14,000, already awarded by the learned Tribunal) shall be paid to the appellants, in the manner indicated in the impugned award, within 45 days from the date of receipt of the certified copy of the judgment, failing which, the same shall carry interest @7.5% per annum from the date of filing of the appeal, till its realisation. In view of above, the present appeal is partly allowed with the modification indicated above. 25.11.2011 (JITENDRA CHAUHAN) gsv JUDGE