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2012(2) LAW HERALD (P&H) 982
IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA
Before
The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Jitendra Chauhan
FAO No.589 of 2010 (O&M) (in MACT case No.115 of 2007)
Oriental Insurance Company Ltd.
v.
Saroj Devi & Ors.
{Decided on 21/12/2011}
(A) Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, S.166--Accident--Compensation--Insurance Company is liable under the terms of their contract with the insured, independent of the financial assistance as received under State Compassionate Assistance Policy, to pay the compensation as assessed by the Tribunals except to the extent worked out in accordance with the formulae as detailed--Haryana Compassionate Assistance To the Defendants of Deceased Government Employees Rules, 2006. (Para 30)
the Insurance Companies cannot get their liability excused or reduced because the deceased’s family is also entitled to financial assistance from an alternative source which is accruing only by reason of the death of the deceased and not because he died in a motor vehicle accident. Drawing an analogy from the aforesaid observation of the Hon’ble Apex Court, when liability of the Insurance Company arises from a specific type of contract i.e. contract of indemnity, how can they be permitted to take benefit of compassionate assistance which results from employer-employee relationship and which is a right accruing by virtue of a welfare legislation (subordinate legislation).
(B) Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, S.166--Accident--Compensation--In addition to Compassionate assistance policy by State--Reworking of calculation--It would involove 2 steps but with modifications--In the first step, notional age of the deceased will be worked out by adding the actual age of the deceased with the numbers of years for which the family would be getting last drawn salary--In the second step, the notional age so arrived at will be made the basis for working out the assessed salary (dependency) and multiplier, as per the law laid down in Sarla Verma’s case.
Example:
FIRST STEP -
Working out the Notional Age of the deceased:
35. If salary is Rs. 25,000/-, deceased is unmarried and below 35 years of age (lets take his age to be 34 years), full last drawn salary will be given for 15 years to the dependents as per the Haryana Compassionate Assistance To the Dependants of Deceased Government Employees Rules, 2006. The actual age of the deceased should be added with the number of years for which full salary is to be given i.e. 34 years + 15 years = 49 years.
SECOND STEP –
36. This figure of 49 years should then be made the basis for assessing the compensation as per Sarla Verma’s judgment. If the age of the claimants is more than this figure, age of the claimants is to be taken into consideration for applying the multiplier as per NIC vs. Shyam Singh.
As per Sarla Verma:
30% increase in salary if age of deceased (notional age) is taken as basis, since it is less than 50 years – Rs. 32,500/- (Rs. 25,000 plus 30%) Dependency 1/2 (presuming to be unmarried) Rs. 32,500/3 = Rs. 16,250/- Annual dependency comes to – 16,250 x 12 = Rs. 1,95,000 (Rs. One lakh and ninety five thousand)
37. Multiplier would be 9 (taking age of parents/ claimants as basis) – this multiplier should be broken into two parts, in case the multiplier spills over to age beyond 58 years. The first part should cover the number of years for which he would have been in service i.e. in this example, for 9 years, taking the age of retirement to be 58 years. Dependency should be then assessed for this part on the bass of assessed salary.
Dependency for 9 years – 1,95,000 x 9 = Rs.17,55,000/- (Rupees Seventeen Lakhs and fifty five thousand)
38. The remainder of multiplier, if any, should be applied for working out the compensation as pension period i.e. 50% of the last drawn salary as pension (last drawn salary arrived at as per Sarla Verma’s case on the notional age), since the multiplier for the period beyond 58 years (the age of superannuation) can not be treated as full salary period and has to be treated as the period during which the deceased would have drawn pension.
Mr. Jitendra Chauhan, J.: - CM No. 7950 CII of 2011 in FAO No. 2304 of 2011
1. For the reasons mentioned in the application, delay of 82 days in filing the appeal is hereby condoned.
2. Application stands disposed of.
Main appeals
3. The present bunch of Appeals has thrown up an interesting but complex proposition of law. This judgment shall dispose of the present bunch of First Appeals (FAO’s) preferred by the Insurance Companies against the awards passed by the Ld. MACT’s in different claim petitions arising out of respective motor vehicular accidents. It needs to be highlighted that though the awards are separate, having been passed by various MACT’s, a common question of law was raised before this Court. Accordingly, the Court deemed it appropriate to dispose off all the FAO’s raising a similar question of law, through a common judgment. However, the judgment is being delivered in FAO No. 589 of 2010 (Oriental Insurance Company Limited vs. Saroj Devi and others). Before proceeding with the discussion, a brief resume of the FAO’s being disposed off by this common judgment would be relevant.
FAO No.589 of 2010
4. The Insurance Company has preferred the present appeal against the impugned Award dated 30.10.2009, passed in MACT case No.115 of 2007, by the learned Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Bhiwani. In this case, death of ASI Rajender Singh occurred in a motor accident on 21.6.2007. Rajender Singh was Assistant Sub Inspector in Haryana Police and his gross salary was Rs.14,740/- per month as per Ex.P14, at the time of death. At the time of his death, he was about 43 years of age as per Ex.P15. The claimants i.e. wife, daughter and father filed a claim petition, which was allowed by the learned Tribunal vide impugned Award dated 30.10.2009 and awarded the following amounts:
1. Compensation on account of loss of dependency @ Rs.60,000/-
per annum (dependency taken as Rs.5000/- per month)
with multiplier of 14 Rs.8,40,000/-
2. Compensation on account of transportation of
dead body and last rites Rs.5,000/-
-------------------
Total Rs.8,45,000/-
-------------------
FAO No.590 of 2010
5. The Insurance Company has preferred the present appeal against the impugned Award dated 30.10.2009, passed in MACT case No.85 of 2007, by the learned Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Bhiwani. In this case, death of HC Satbir Singh Singh occurred in a motor accident on 21.6.2007. Rajender Singh was Head Constable in Haryana Police and his gross salary was Rs.10,563/- per month, as per Ex.P2, at the time of death. At the time of his death, his age was about 42 years. The claimants i.e. wife, daughter, son and father filed a claim petition, which was allowed by the learned Tribunal vide impugned Award dated 30.10.2009 and awarded the following amounts:
1. Compensation on account of loss of dependency @ Rs.60,000/-
per annum (dependency taken as Rs.5000/- per month)
with multiplier of 14 Rs.8,40,000/-
2. Compensation on account of transportation of
dead body, last rites and consortium etc. Rs. 5,000/-
---------------------
Total Rs.8,45,000/-
---------------------
FAO No.591 of 2010
6. The Insurance Company has preferred the present appeal against the impugned Award dated 30.10.2009, passed in MACT case No.87 of 2007, by the learned Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Bhiwani. In this case, death of Raje Ram occurred in a motor accident on 21.6.2007. Raje Ram was a Sanskrit Teacher in Govt. Girls High School, Duloth Ahir and his gross salary was Rs.23,405/- per month, as per Ex.P23, at the time of death. His age was about 55 years. The claimants i.e. wife, son, daughter and father filed a claim petition, which was allowed by the learned Tribunal vide impugned Award dated 30.10.2009 and awarded the following amounts:
1. Compensation on account of loss of dependency @ Rs.96,000/-
per annum (dependency taken as Rs.8000/- per month)
with multiplier of 9 Rs.8,64,000/-
2. Compensation on account of transportation of
dea
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