Case ID: 3796

Judgment:
Civil Appeal Nos. 2254 & 2255 of 1968. (From the Judgment and Order dated the 10 1 1967 of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in Misc. First Appeal No. 12/64) Ram Panjwani	 Rameshwar Nath	 for the appellant in both the appeals. A. G. Ratnaparkhi	 for respondent No. 1 in CA 2254/68. S.K. Gambhir	 for respondent No. 1 in CA No. 2255/68. The Judgment of the Court was delivered by GUPTA	 J. On June 23	 1961 a bus owned by the appellant which was going from Gwalior to Indore met with an accident as a result of which two of the passengers	 Mrs. Usha Kotas thane	 aged about 23 years	 and her one year old son	 died and several others received serious injuries. Among the injured was one Sailesh Kumar	 a boy of about four years. Claims for compensation were filed before the Motor Acci dent Claims Tribunal at Gwalior. The application for com pensation for the death of Mrs. Usha Kotasthane and her child was made by her husband Shri Sudhakar Kotasthane	 and the claim in respect of the injury to minor Sailesh Kumar was made on his behalf by his guardian mother Shrimati Indubala Bhandari. Sudhakar Kotasthane and Indubala Bhand ari were also travelling in the same bus and both sustained injuries and were awarded compensation by the tribunal	 but these appeals do not concern their cases or the claim in respect of Kotasthane 's dead child. The two appeals before us at the instance of the Madhya Pradesh State Road Trans port Corporation	 on certificate granted by the Madhya Pradesh High Court	 are against the common judgment of the High Court enhancing the quantum of damages awarded by the claims tribunal in respect of the death of Mrs. Usha Kotas thane and the injury sustained by Sailesh Kumar. C.A. 2254 of 1968 relates to the award in Mrs. Kotasthane 's case and C.A. 2255 of 1968 to that in the case of Sailesh Kumar. 629 As regards the death of Mrs. Usha Kotasthane	 the claims tribunal awarded Rs. 15000/ as damages to her hus band Sudhakar. At the time of her death she was employed as a Physical Instructress in a school at Indore	 getting a salary of Rs. 190/ per month	 in the grade of Rs.150 10 250. Admittedly Sudhakar remarried within a year of the death of his first wife. This is how the tribu nal dealt with the claim: "In the present case	 it is a case of the death of the wife. The husband was not dependent on the earning of his wife. He was himself earning independently. The applicant has no where stated that on account of the death of his former wife	 he has been deprived of her income	 nor that he was dependant upon her. It is true; that 'the wife of the appli cant was educated	 healthy	 employed	 and earning. As far as	 the loss of companionship is concerned	 it is again true that he faced this loss for nearly	 11 months	 after which	 he married for the second time. No cross examination has been led by the non applicant on the point that the second wife is as accom plished	 educated	 and healthy as the former one was. The death of the wife of the appli cant must have caused him mental shock	 pain and inconvenient in his house hold. The work in the house	 which he could take from his wife in looking to the household was also not available to the applicant during this period of 11 month. The advantage of established married life with a child in the lap	 was also lossed to the applicant during this time. Taking into consideration all these facts	 in favour of the applicant	 and the fact	 against him that he was married again after 11 months	 of the death of his wife	 I think	 it will be proper to award damages amounting to Rs. 15000/ for the loss of life of his wife	 which resulted into conditions of inconven ience	 suffering shock derangement in house and the life	 for a period of nearly 11 months. " Both sudhakar Kotasthane and Madhya Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation preferred appeals to the High Court from the decision of the tribunal. The High Court proceeded as follows. The "span of her earning life" was counted as 35 years taking 58 years as the age of superannuation. For the first six years from the date of accident	 the High Court took Rs. 200/ as the average monthly income	 and for the remaining twenty nine years of service the average income per month was fixed at Rs. 250/ . On this basis the High Court computed her total earning to be Rs. 96	000/ . Giving allowance for her own expenses and also taking into account the promotions and consequently the increased salary she might have earned	 the High Court thought that she could have "easily spread" half of this amount for the household and estimated the loss of income on account of her death in round figures	 at Rs. 50	000/ .The High Court enhanced the compensation accordingly. Regarding Sudhakar 's second	 marriage the High Court observed: 630 "But even so the second marriage cannot be said to be a substitute for the ' first one. The second wife is not an earning member of the family nor is it shown that Sudhakar has in any way benefitted from the second marriage financial ly. Therefore the financial loss would be there despite the second marriage. " On these findings the High Court allowed the appeal filed by Sudhakar Kotasthane and dismissed that preferred by the Madhya Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation. The extract from the tribunal 's order quoted above suggests that in fixing the quantum of compensation the tribunal was under the impression that the applicant had made no claim on the ground of ' pecuniary loss resulting from his wife 's death. In this the tribunal was clearly in error. In paragraph 11 of the claim petition	 Rs. 75	000/is claimed as compensation and the paragraph makes it clear	 that the sum is computed on the deceased 's expected earn ings. If there were no such claim the tribunal would have been hardly justified in awarding Rs. 15000/ as damages for the mental shock and inconvenience suffered by the applicant for a period of 11 months only	 after which he remarried. The High Court also does not seem to be right in estimating the damages at Rs. 50	000/ in the manner it did. Whether the deceased 's average monthly salary is taken to be Rs. 200/ or Rs. 250/we find it difficult to agree that only half of that amount would have been sufficient for her monthly expenses till she retired from service	 so that the remaining half may be taken as the measure of her husband 's monthly loss. It is not impossible that she would have contributed half of her salary to the household but then it is reasonable to suppose that the husband who was employed at a slightly higher salary would have contributed his share to the common pool which would have been utilised for the lodging and board of both of them. We do not therefore think it is correct to assume that the husband 's loss amounted to half the monthly salary the deceased was likely to draw until she retired. If on an average she contributed Rs. 100/every month to the common pool	 then his loss would be roughly not more than Rs. 50/ a month and	 assuming she worked till she was 58 years	 the total loss would not exceed Rs. 19	000/ . But in assessing damages certain other factors have to be taken note of which the High Court over looked	 such as the uncertainties of life and the fact of accelerated payment that the husband would be getting a lump sum payment which but for his wife 's death would have been available to him in driblets over a number of years Allowance must be made for the uncertainties and the total figure scaled down accordingly. The deceased might not have been able to earn till the age of retirement for some reason or other	 like illness or for having. to spend more time to look after the family which was expected to grow. Thus the amount assessed has to be reduced taking into account these imponderable factors. Some element of conjecture is inevitable in assessing damages Pearce in Mallet v Mc Monagle	 1970 (A.C.) (H.L.) 166 Lord( 174)calls it "reson able prophecy"sTaking note of all the relevant factors	 the sum of Rs.15000/ awarded by the tribunal appears to be a reasonable figure which h we do not find any reason to disturb. 631 A method of assessing damages	 usually followed in England	 as appears from Mallet vs Mc Monagle (supra)	 is to calculate the net pecuniary loss upon an annual basis and to "arrive at the total award b multiplying the figure as sessed as the amount of the annual "dependency" by a number of "year 's purchase" "	 (p. 178) that is	 the number of years the benefit was expected to last	 taking into consid eration the imponderable factors in fixing either the multi plier or the multiplicand	 The husband may not be dependant on the wife 's income	 the basis of assessing the damages payable to the husband for the death of his wife would be similar. Here	 the lady had 35 years of service before her when she died. We have found that the claimant 's loss reasonably works out to Rs. 50/ a month i.e. Rs. 600/ a year. Keeping in mind all the relevant facts and contingen cies and taking 20 as the suitable multiplier	 the figure come to Rs. 12	000/ . The tribunal 's award cannot there fore ' be challenged as too low though it was not based on proper grounds. In a decision of the Kerala. High Court relied on by the appellant (P. B. Kader vs Thatchamma: AIR 1970 Kerala 241 )	 to which one of us was a party	 the same method of assessing compensation was adopted. The other appeal (C.A. No. 2255 of 1968) relates to the injury sustained by a boy aged about four years. He suf fered compound fracture of his right tibia and fabula lower third near the ankle joint with infection of the wound. Skin grafting had to be done and the boy had to remain in hospital from June 25	 to August 4	 1961. AccOrding to the doctor who examined him	 the child was likely to develop a permanent limp which might require another operation at the age of 16 years or so. In any case	 in the opinion of the doctor the deformity was certain to persist till the boy was 16 years when another operation might remove it. The tribu nal awarded Rs. 10	000/as general damages and Rs. 890/ as special damages. The High Court increased the general damages to Rs. 20	000/ . It appears from the evidence that the boy comes from a well to do family. Though the possibil ity was there of the deformity being removed by surgical operation when he grew up to be 16 years	 the other possi bility cannot be altogether ruled out. That being the position	 we are not inclined to interfere with the sum awarded by the High Court. In the result	 appeal No. 2254 of 1968 is allowed	 the judgment of the High Court is set aside and the award of the tribunal is restored; appeal No. 2255 of 1968 is dismissed. There will be no order as to costs in either appeal. C.A. 2254 of 1968 allowed. S.R. C.A. 2255 of 1968 dismissed.

Summary:
In a bus accident on June 23	 1961	 one Mrs. Usha Kotas thane and her one year old son died. One Sailesh Kumar. a boy of about four years coming from a well to do family was disabled due to a compound fracture of his right tibia and fabula lower third near the ankle joint. _ Sudhakar Kotas thane	 the husband of the deceased and respondent No. 1 in C.A. 2254 of 1968 and Smt. Indu Bala Bhandari. mother of Sailesh Kumar and respondent No. 1 in C.A. 2255 of 1968 applied to the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal	 Gwalior for compensation. The Tribunal took into consideration (i) the loss of life of Sudhakar 's wife which resulted into condi tions of inconvenience	 suffering	 shock	 derangement in house and the life for a period of nearly 11 months i.e.	 till he remarried and (ii) The fact that Mrs. Usha was working as Physical Instructress in a school getting a salary of Rs. 190/ p	m. in the scale of Rs. 150 10 250 and awarded a sum of Rs. 15	000/ as compensation as against the claim of Rs. 75	000/ computed on the deceased 's earn ings. The Tribunal also awarded a sum of Rs. 10	000/ as damages and Rs. 890/ as special damages to Smt. Indubala. Both the respondents and the appellant preferred appeals to the High Court from the decision of the Tribunal. The High Court enhanced the compensation to Rs. 50	000/ in the case of Sudhakar and to Rs. 20	000/ in the case of Indubala. Allowing the appeal in C.A. No. 2254 of 1968 and dis missing the appeal in C.A. No. 2255 of 1968	 the Court. HELD: (1) A method of assessing damages usually followed in England is to calculate the net pecuniary loss upon an annual basis and "to arrive at a total award by multiplying the figure assessed as the amount of the annual 'dependency ' by a number of year 's purchase"	 that is	 the number of years that benefit was expected to last taking into consid eration the imponderable factors in fixing either the multi plier or the multiplicand. The husband may not be dependant on the wife 's income. the basis of assessing the damages payable to the husband for the death of his wife would be similar. [631 AB] Rule in Mallet vs Mc Mongale 1970 (A.C.) H.L. 166 at 174 quoted with approval. P.B. Kaclar vs Thatchamma AIR 1970 Kerala 241	 approved. In assessing damages certain other factors have to be taken note of	 such as	 the uncertainties of life and the fact of accelerated payment that the husband would be getting a lump sum payment which but for his wife 's death would have been available to him in driblets over a number of years. Allowance must be made for the uncertainties and the total figure sealed down accordingly. The deceased might not have been able to earn till the age of retirement 628 for some reason or other	 like illness or for having to spend more time to look after the family which was expected to grow. Thus	 the amount assessed has to be reduced taking into account these imponderable factors. [630 G H] In the instant case	 the deceased had 35 years of serv ice before her when she died. The claimant 's loss reasona bly works out to Rs. 50/ a month i.e.	 Rs. 600/ a year. Keeping in mind all the relevant factors and contingencies and taking 20 as the suitable multiplier	 the figure comes to Rs. 12	000. The Tribunal 's award cannot	 therefore	 be challenged as too low though it was not based on proper grounds. The High Court was also not right in estimating the damages at Rs. 50	000/ in the manner it did. 2255 of 1968: Though the possibility was there	 in the instant case	 of the deformity being removed by surgical operation when the boy grew up to be 16 years	 the other possibility of "likelihood to develop a permanent limp" cannot be altogeth er ruled out. That being the position	 the increase of general damages to Rs. 20	000/ 	 in the instant case	 in addition to Rs. 890/ as special damages is proper. [631 D F]