Judgment:
FAO No.1102 of 1991 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH FAO No.1102 of 1991 Date of Decision: 23.01.2014 Daulat Singh and others ........Appellants versus Sita Ram and another ........Respondents CORAM: Hon'ble Mr.Justice Ajay Tewari Present: Mr.A.S.Sandhu , Advocate for the appellants.
Mr.R.C.Kapoor, Advocate for the insurance company-respondent No.2.
**** 1.
Whether Reporters of local papers may be allowed to see the judgment?.
2.
To be referred to the Reporters or not?.
3.
Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest?.
Ajay Tewari, J.
(Oral).This appeal has been filed for enhancement of compensation.
The facts, in brief, are that on 6.5.1987 at about noon time, deceased Chaman Lal was going on his motor cycle No.PBM-4525 from Shahbad side to Barara.
He was driving his motor cycle on the left side of the road at a very slow speed.
When he reached near bus stand Jalubi, a truck bearing registration No.HRD-631, loaded with bags having been driven by Ram Kumar alias Rammu in a rash and negligent manner and without blowing any horn took it on to the wrong side and struck against Chaman Lal as a result of which he and his motor cycle were dragged to a sufficient long distance.
The driver of the truck ran away from the spot.
Nagpal Sunita 2014.02.17 12:56 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document FAO No.1102 of 1991 2 This occurrence was witnessed by Hans Raj and Sohan Singh.
Injured Chaman Lal was taken to Civil Hospital, Shahabad where he succumbed to his injuries.
The Tribunal held respondent No.1 liable for causing the accident.
Taking the income of the deceased at Rs.1300/- per month and deducting Rs.1000/- towards his personal expenses, the monthly dependency was worked out to be Rs.300/-.
Multiplier of 16 was applied and total compensation was worked out to be Rs.57,600/-(300 x12x 16).Learned counsel for the appellants has argued that the Tribunal has erred in making a deduction of Rs.1000/- per month out of a total sum of Rs.1300/- and urged that it should be fixed at 50% as has been established by judicial precedents.
Learned counsel for the insurance company is not in a position to deny this assertion.
In the circumstances the deduction is fixed at 50%.
Learned counsel has further argued that nothing has been awarded for future prospects.
The deceased was of the age of 21-22 yeaRs.therefore, an additional increase of 50% should have been granted towards future prospects.
In support of his contention he has relied upon Rajesh and others v.
Rajbir Singh and others reported as 2013(90 SCC54 To controvert this argument learned counsel for the insurance company has relied upon Reshma Kumari and others v.
Madan Mohan and another reported as 2013 AIR SC(Civil) 1731.
This point has been discussed elaborately by this Court in FAO No.2990 of 2011, Manjit Kaur and others v.
Ramesh Kumar and others decided on 08.01.2014.
Adopting the same analogy I award an additional increase of 50% towards future prospects.
Further learned counsel has argued that nothing has been granted under the conventional heads.
Learned counsel for the insurance company is Nagpal Sunita 2014.02.17 12:56 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document FAO No.1102 of 1991 3 also not in a position to deny this argument also.
He has, however, brought to my notice that the accident took place as far back as 1987.
In these circumstances I deem it appropriate to grant a total amount of Rs.75,000/- under the conventional heads.
However, learned counsel for the insurance company has argued that as per the award the appellants had received interest at the rate of 12% p.a.but keeping in view the judicial trend today this interest should not be granted on the enhanced amount.
I find merit in this argument and consequently direct that on the enhanced amount the appellants would be entitled to interest at the rate of 8% p.a.from the date of filing of the claim petition till realisation.
With the modification in the award, the appeal is allowed to the above extent.
(AJAY TEWARI) JUDGE January 23, 2014 sunita Nagpal Sunita 2014.02.17 12:56 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document