Full Judgment
IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH FAO No.3019 of 2011. Date of Decision :
16. 7.2013. Geeta ...... Appellant Versus Narwair Singh and others ...... Respondents CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE NAWAB SINGH Present: Mr. Vinot Bhardwaj, Advocate, for the appellant. Mr. Ashit Malik, Advocate, for respondents No.1 and 2. Mr. Ravinder Arora, Advocate, for respondent No.3-insurance company. NAWAB SINGH J.(ORAL) Geeta, wife of Shiv Kumar (deceased) has filed the instant appeal against the judgment-cum-Award dated January 8th, 2011 passed by Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (for short “the Tribunal”.), Kaithal.
2. Shiv Kumar died in a road accident on June 27th, 2009 on account of rash and negligent driving of canter bearing not PB-11-AE-9727 by Narwair Singh, owned by Sunny Jain and insured with New India Insurance company Limited-respondents No.1 to 3 herein.
3. Shiv Kumar was born on November 11th, 1972. He was JBT Teacher in Government Primary School, Picholia, District Karnal. His last drawn pay was Rs.19,983/-. The deceased joined the service on December 24th, 2004. He was about 37 years of age at the time of his unfortunate death. This has been proved by Jagbir Singh (PW-2) Clerk of the school on the basis of record brought by him. The Tribunal after considering the law laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Smt. Sarla Verma and others vs. Delhi Transport corporation and another 2009 AIR SC 314.Sanjay enhanced the salary by 50%. By calculation the same was 2013.07.31 11:01 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document Punjab and Haryana High Court FAO No.3019 of 2011 (2) assessed at Rs.29,824/- which was rounded off to Rs.29,800/-. 1/3rd of the amount was deducted for his personal and living expenses and the dependency was assessed at Rs.19,867/-. The Tribunal though wanted to apply the multiplier of 15 but reduced it to 3 in view of the notification dated August 1st, 2006 issued by the Government of Haryana promulgating the Haryana Compassionate Assistance to the Dependents of Deceased Government Employees Rules, 2006. Under these rules, financial assistance is given to assist the families of deceased employees falling under categories mentioned therein. The dependency was assessed at Rs.7,15,212/-. An amount of Rs.10,000/ was awarded for loss of estate and Rs.10,000/- for loss of consortium. In all, compensation of Rs.7,35,212/- along with interest at the rate of 6% per annum from the date of filing of claim application till its realisation was awarded to the claimant.
4. The solitary challenge to the judgment of the Tribunal by the claimant is that the compensation received from the Government under the Haryana Compassionate Assistance to the dependents of the deceased Government employees could not be deducted and as such, the multiplier of 15 should have been applied on the amount of dependency assessed, that is, Rs.19,867/- instead of 3.
5. The argument is persuasive in view of the law laid down by a division bench of this Court in Reliance General Insurance Company Limited vs. Purnima and others (2013) 2 RCR (Civil) 42 DB wherein it was held that the insurance company shall not be entitled to the deduction of the amount given to the dependents under the aforesaid notification/rules of 2006 while calculating compensation under the Motor Vehicles Act. This being so, the Tribunal fell in error in applying the multiplier of 3 instead of 15 which this Court does now. Applying the same, the dependency comes to Rs.35,76,060/- (19867x12x15).The amount of Rs.20,000/- awarded for the loss of estate and loss of consortium shall remain unaltered. Thus, the appellant is held entitled to total compensation Sanjay 2013.07.31 11:01 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document Punjab and Haryana High Court FAO No.3019 of 2011 (3) of Rs.35,96,060/-. The interest on the enhanced amount of Rs.28,60,848/- shall be paid from the date of filing claim application till the amount was deposited by the insurance company under the impugned Award at the same rate of interest as was awarded by the Tribunal.
6. The appeal is disposed of accordingly. 16.7.2013. (NAWAB SINGH) SN JUDGE Sanjay 2013.07.31 11:01 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document Punjab and Haryana High Court