JUDGMENT

SUDHANSU JYOTI MUKHOPADHAYA, J.

Leave granted.

2. The present appeal is filed by the claimant-appellant against the judgment of Punjab and Haryana High Court at Chandigarh in FAO No.693 of 1989, whereby the High Court granted a meager enhancement in the amount of compensation awarded to him by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (hereinafter referred to as 'the Tribunal').

3. The facts involved in the present case are as follows:

The claimant was employed as a 'Product Design Engineer' in M/s. Utility Engineers (India) Ltd. Dharuhera, District Mohindergarh, Haryana. The employer had arranged for a Chartered Bus belonging to M/s. National Tours & Travels, F-4, East of Kailash, New Delhi, 2nd respondent before the Tribunal for carrying the employees to the factory at Dharuhera and back; one Pritam Singh, 1st respondent before the Tribunal was the driver of the said bus. On 2nd September, 1987, the claimant along with his colleagues was coming back from Dharuhera in the said Chartered Bus bearing Registration No.DBP-805. At about 6 p.m. when the said Bus reached near the turning of village Shikohpur on Gurgaon-Jaipur Highway, it came across a truck coming from opposite direction which was crossing a camel cart in front of it. Pritam Singh, who was driving the bus at a very high speed, carelessly, rashly and negligently attempted to cross the above said truck without keeping the Bus to the extreme left hand side. This resulted in a collision of right hand side of the bus with the truck, which resulted in severance of right hand of the claimant who was sitting in the right side of the bus. The said accident and the mishappenings thereto were witnessed by the occupants of the bus. One Anil Kumar, PW-3, who was also travelling in the said Chartered Bus at the time of the said accident, took the claimant to the Civil Hospital, Gurgaon from where he was given medical first-aid and he was referred to Safdarjang Hospital, New Delhi. The claimant was later on transferred to ‘Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital’, New Delhi and thereafter he was also treated in different Hospitals at various stages. The matter was also reported to the Police by Anil Kumar, PW-3.

4. The claimant filed a petition under Section 110-A of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 claiming Rs.12 lacs as the compensation for the loss of the right hand which was amputated near the shoulder, on various counts.

5. The respondents contested the claim of the claimant. The Tribunal after perusing oral and documentary evidence held that the accident took place due to rash and negligent driving by Driver, Pritam Singh of Bus No.DBP-805. The Issue No.1 was thus decided in favour of the claimant. While assessing the compensation under Issue No.2, the Tribunal awarded a compensation of Rs.3,20,000/- with interest at the rate of 12% per annum.

6. In the appeal preferred by the claimant the High Court taken a loss of earning capacity to 70% in view of permanent disability of right hand. Based on salary of Rs.3,000/- per month as claimed by the claimant adding 50% on the same for future prospects of increase and applying multiplier of 16, compensation amount was raised to Rs.4,500/- with interest at 6% from the date of petition. The High Court made the following observation while granting compensation against different heads:

“4. In my view, the issue relating to death or injury would have no serious difference in the choice of multiplicand or the multiplier. If at all, case of injury that completely disables a person for life is more poignant than a case of death and that is why Courts do not always provide for deductions for personal expenses in case claims for injuries. Indeed, the deduction itself will be meaningless for unlike a case of death, we need to make provision for his own living as well as the living of persons, who are dependent on injured person. The loss in case of injury where there is an amputation and there is a high percentage of loss of earning capacity, in my view, the pri