Case: S. CHANDRASEKHARAN &amp; ORS Vs. M. DINAKAR &amp; ANR

or any of them, as the case may be: ….. (2) The Claims Tribunal shall arrange to deliver copies of the award to the parties concerned expeditiously and in any case within a period of fifteen days from the date of the award. (3) When an award is made under this section, the person who is required to pay any amount in terms of such award shall, within thirty days of the date of announcing the award by the Claims Tribunal, deposit the entire amount awarded in such manner as the Claims Tribunal may direct. 12. The aforesaid provision vests the Tribunal with the power and jurisdiction to make an inquiry into claims arising out of deaths and injuries caused from an accident and make award determining the compensation which appears to it to be just. It would defeat the legislative purpose in the event the Tribunal or the Appellate Forum is made to confine its inquiry to the plea of the claimant as regards the factors which ought to be taken into consideration for determining the compensation amount. Power to hold an inquiry under the aforesaid provision cannot be construed in such a restrictive manner. If the factors on which quantification of claim is asked for cannot be established, the adjudicatory forum under the 1988 Act would stand divested of its power to arrive at just compensation even if in course of the proceeding, materials disclosed could justify award of compensation based on certain criteria other than those on which the claim is founded. In the instant case, we find that the Tribunal, while proceeding to award compensation to the appellants/claimants had relied on the principle laid down by this Court in the case of Arun Kumar Agrawal (supra) and there was evidence before the Tribunal to assess the income of the husband of the deceased. In fact, the first appellants compensation was quantified taking into consideration his own income at the material point of time. In our opinion, the High Court ought not to have proceeded on the basis of the income drawn by the deceased victim approximately three years before the accident ended her life. The Tribunal did not indulge in pure guesswork in pegging the notional income of the deceased to her husbands income. As we have already observed, in the claim petition itself, against the column Occupation of the deceased- income calculation of the deceased was contemplated on the basis of her husbands income. The Tribunal had rightly followed the course laid down in the case of Arun Kumar Agrawal (supra), which in the given facts, constituted, a more definitive and reliable methodology for quantifying pecuniary loss. 13. So far as deduction on account of personal expenses of the deceased, following the case of Sarla Verma (Smt) and Others vs. Delhi Transport Corporation and Another [(2009) 6 SCC 121] , the Tribunal directed deduction of 1/3rd of the earning of the deceased, the latter being determined on the income of her spouse. That was, in our view, the proper course. We hold so because, even if we leave out the husband of the deceased from being treated as a dependent, there were two minor children at the material point of time who ought to have been treated as dependent family members. At that point of time the second appellant was twelve years old and the age of injured daughter was three years. In the case of Sarla Verma (supra) the deduction has been held to be valid in a case where there were dependent family members. We should not restrict the expression dependent to mean those financially dependent only. Minor children are emotionally dependent on the mother. They lost care and guidance of their mother at a very young age. While arriving at just compensation, the Tribunal ought to factor in the loss of dependency in these terms. 14. The High Court did not give any reason for deducting 50% in computing pecuniary loss and we do not think this was the correct view. We are of the view that deduction of 1/3rd of determined income of the deceased towards personal expenses is valid on the basis of the decision of this Court in the case of Sarla Verma (supra). We also find that neither the Tribunal nor the High Court had considered loss of future prospect to arrive at the quantum of pecuniary loss. In the case of Rajendra Singh and Others vs. National Insurance Company Limited and Others [(2020) 7 SCC 256], addition of loss of future prospects has been held to be a factor for determining compensation under the head of pecuniary loss even in a case where the income of deceased is arrived at on a notional basis. In this judgment it has been held:- 11. The notional income of the first deceased is therefore held to be Rs 5000 per month at the time of death. The compensation on that basis with a deduction of 1/4th i.e. Rs. 15,000 towards personal expenses with a multiplier of 17 is assessed at Rs 7,65,000. If the deceased had survived, in view of observations in Lata Wadhwa [Lata Wadhwa v. State of Bihar, (2001) 8 SCC 197] , her skills as a matured and skilled housewife in contributing to the welfare and care of the family and in the upbringing of the children would have only been enhanced by time and for which reason we hold that the appellants shall be entitled to future prospects @ 40% in addition to the loss of consortium and future expenses already granted. We therefore assess the total compensation payable to the appellants in the first appeal at Rs 11,96,000. 15. The deceased was 37 years old at the time of her death. Hence, there ought to be an addition of 40% to the notional income of the deceased towards future prospects as she was below 40 years of age. In the present case, it is not in dispute that multiplier of 15 ought to be applied.

Decision (1 = appeal accepted, 0 = rejected): 1

Explanation:
1[ds]9. In our opinion, the judgment of the High Court on this point suffers from error on two counts. At the time of her death, the deceased was not in employment. She was a homemaker. It was not a case where the deceased at the time of accident had just left her job. If that was the case, her last drawn salary might have had given reliable guidance for computing her monthly income at that point of time. Here the deceased remained without employment for a period of approximately three years and what she earned prior to that ought not to have been treated to be her monthly income to arrive at just and proper compensation under the head of pecuniary loss, as has been held by the High Court. There is a long time gap between the time she was in employment and the occurrence of the accident. Her monthly salary approximately three years back thus would be an unreliable guide for fixing her notional income when she succumbed to her injuries caused by the accident. Moreover, at the time of the accident, she was a homemaker providing care and support to her family. In this context, in our opinion, the computation methodology prescribed in the case of Arun Kumar Agrawal (supra) would be more appropriate to apply, which was done by the Tribunal.10. Plea has been taken before us on behalf of the insurance company that the appellants could not take a stand for computing the income of the deceased in the manner held in the case of Arun Kumar Agrawal (supra), since before the High Court, they had run a case that the pecuniary loss ought to be computed on the basis of her last drawn salary. Just because the appellants urged their claim based on the last drawn salary of the deceased before the High Court, this Court ought not to anchor its decision on that argument alone. It remains open to this Court to examine the nature of the claim and compute the compensation on a different criterion applying a different parameter. This is more so, because such compensation figure could be arrived at on the basis of materials on record, that includes evidence on monthly earning of the husband of the deceased and the applied parameter stands judicially recognised as a legitimate mode for computing pecuniary loss. Further, in this case, plea was made in the claim petition for compensation calculated on the basis of one-third of the husbands income.In the petition for special leave to appeals also, one of the points formulated is as to whether compensation on account of death of Bala Babitha would be calculated on the basis of her last drawn salary or her husbands income.In the instant case, we find that the Tribunal, while proceeding to award compensation to the appellants/claimants had relied on the principle laid down by this Court in the case of Arun Kumar Agrawal (supra) and there was evidence before the Tribunal to assess the income of the husband of the deceased. In fact, the first appellants compensation was quantified taking into consideration his own income at the material point of time. In our opinion, the High Court ought not to have proceeded on the basis of the income drawn by the deceased victim approximately three years before the accident ended her life. The Tribunal did not indulge in pure guesswork in pegging the notional income of the deceased to her husbands income. As we have already observed, in the claim petition itself, against the column Occupation of the deceased- income calculation of the deceased was contemplated on the basis of her husbands income. The Tribunal had rightly followed the course laid down in the case of Arun Kumar Agrawal (supra), which in the given facts, constituted, a more definitive and reliable methodology for quantifying pecuniary loss.13. So far as deduction on account of personal expenses of the deceased, following the case of Sarla Verma (Smt) and Others vs. Delhi Transport Corporation and Another [(2009) 6 SCC 121] , the Tribunal directed deduction of 1/3rd of the earning of the deceased, the latter being determined on the income of her spouse. That was, in our view, the proper course. We hold so because, even if we leave out the husband of the deceased from being treated as a dependent, there were two minor children at the material point of time who ought to have been treated as dependent family members. At that point of time the second appellant was twelve years old and the age of injured daughter was three years. In the case of Sarla Verma (supra) the deduction has been held to be valid in a case where there were dependent family members. We should not restrict the expression dependent to mean those financially dependent only. Minor children are emotionally dependent on the mother. They lost care and guidance of their mother at a very young age. While arriving at just compensation, the Tribunal ought to factor in the loss of dependency in these terms.14. The High Court did not give any reason for deducting 50% in computing pecuniary loss and we do not think this was the correct view. We are of the view that deduction of 1/3rd of determined income of the deceased towards personal expenses is valid on the basis of the decision of this Court in the case of Sarla Verma (supra). We also find that neither the Tribunal nor the High Court had considered loss of future prospect to arrive at the quantum of pecuniary loss. In the case of Rajendra Singh and Others vs. National Insurance Company Limited and Others [(2020) 7 SCC 256], addition of loss of future prospects has been held to be a factor for determining compensation under the head of pecuniary loss even in a case where the income of deceased is arrived at on a notional basis. In this judgment it has been held:-11. The notional income of the first deceased is therefore held to be Rs 5000 per month at the time of death. The compensation on that basis with a deduction of 1/4th i.e. Rs. 15,000 towards personal expenses with a multiplier of 17 is assessed at Rs 7,65,000. If the deceased had survived, in view of observations in Lata Wadhwa [Lata Wadhwa v. State of Bihar, (2001) 8 SCC 197] , her skills as a matured and skilled housewife in contributing to the welfare and care of the family and in the upbringing of the children would have only been enhanced by time and for which reason we hold that the appellants shall be entitled to future prospects @ 40% in addition to the loss of consortium and future expenses already granted. We therefore assess the total compensation payable to the appellants in the first appeal at Rs 11,96,000.15. The deceased was 37 years old at the time of her death. Hence, there ought to be an addition of 40% to the notional income of the deceased towards future prospects as she was below 40 years of age. In the present case, it is not in dispute that multiplier of 15 ought to be applied.