Gian Anand Gupta and ors. Vs. Surmukh Singh Driver Punjab Roadways and ors. - Court Judgment

Excerpt:
- amarjeet chaudhary, j. 1. the motor accident claims tribunal, rupnagar, (hereinafter referred to as the tribunal), vide its award dated july 20, 1985, had awarded a total compensation of rs. 2,32,800/-with 12% pa interest to the claimants on account of the death of anand kumar gupta, executive engineer, claimant no. 1 is the wife, claimants no. 2 & 3 are the daughters and claimant no. 4 is the minor son of the deceased.2. aggrieved against the award of the tribunal, the claimants-appellants have filed this appeal praying for enhancement of the compensation.3. the deceased was 46 years old at the time of his death and his monthly salary was rs. 3451.20 ps. it was held by the tribunal that out of this salary, the deceased must have been spending 1/3rd i.e. rs. 2300/- on his family. on this basis, the annual dependency of the claimants was calculated at rs. 27,600/-. it this manner, the average annual dependency of each of the claimants comes to rs. 6900/-. the tribunal in the case of claimant no. 1 had applied a multiplier of 14, whereas in the case, of other claimants, a multiplier of 6 was applied. the tribunal had accordingly awarded a total sum of rs. 2,32,800/- as compensation. out of this amount the claimant no. 1 was to get rs. 1,01,600/- including rs. 5000/- on account of injuries sustained by her. in addition, she was also awarded a sum of rs. 4,000/- as funeral expenses. the claimants no. 2 to 4 were to get rs. 41,000/- each. in addition respondent no. 4 was also awarded a sum of rs. 3000/- on account of injuries sustained by him.4. the challenge to the award is that the tribunal while calculating the monthly income of the deceased had wrongly held that the deceased out of his monthly salary of rs. 3451.20 ps. must be spending 1/3rd i.e. rs. 1150/- on self-maintenance and the rest 2/3rd i.e. rs. 2300/- on his family. the deceased must be contributing more than rs. 2300/- towards his family and would be spending little amount on himself.5. on consideration of the matter, i am of the view that out of monthly income of rs. 3451/- the deceased must be spending rs. 850/- on himself and the remaining rs. 2600/- on his family. calculated on this basis, the annual dependency of the claimants-appellant comes to rs. 2600x12 = 31,200/-. the average dependency of the four claimants comes to rs. 7800/- each. there is no error on the part of the tribunal in applying a multiplier of 14 in the case of smt. gian anand gupta appellant and a multiplier of 6 in the case of children. accordingly by applying a multiplier of 14, the claimant smt. gian anand gupta is awarded rs. 1,09,200/- compensation with 12% interest from the date of the claim petition. besides this, she shall also be entitled to rs. 4000/- as funeral expenses and rs. 5000/- on account of injuries sustained by her in the alleged accident. by applying a multiplier of 6, the remaining claimant-appellants 2 to 4 are awarded a sum of rs. 46,800/- each. however, claimant-appellant no. 4 namely manoj kumar shall also be entitled to rs. 3000/- on account of the injuries suffered by him. they are also awarded 12% interest on the enhanced compensation from the date of the claim petition. out of the compensation awarded by this court, the compensation already awarded by the tribunal is to be adjusted.6. consequently, the appeal is allowed to the extent indicated above. no order as to cost.