Accident--Income--Deceased house wife was aged 45 years--Income taken as Rs.9000/- p.m. without any deduction towards personal expenses

JUDGMENT

Mr. B.S. Walia, J. (Oral):- Appeal has been filed for enhancement of compensation of Rs. 9,27,000/-, awarded on account of death of the wife (housewife) of appellant No.1 and mother of appellant Nos.2 & 3 in a motor vehicular accident on 01.12.2013.

2. The learned Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, Karnal (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Tribunal’), assessed the monthly contribution of the deceased house wife towards the family at Rs. 4500/-, thereafter by applying multiplier of ‘13’ on account of the deceased being 4 5 years of age, assessed dependency at Rs. 4500x12x13 = 7,02,000/-. Thereafter by awarding a sum of Rs. 1,00,000/- on account of loss of love and affection, Rs. 1,00,000/- on account of loss of consortium and Rs. 25,000/- on account of transportation and funeral charges, awarded total compensation of Rs. 9,27,000/-.

3. None is present on behalf of the respondents, besides Mr. Pradeep Kumar, Advocate for respondent No.3, who had appeared earlier is also not present of behalf of respondent No.3, despite the case having been called out twice. In the circumstances, I am not inclined to adjourn the matter.

4. Learned counsel for the appellants contended that the monthly contribution of the deceased house wife taken at Rs. 4500/- per month is on the lower side and ought to be at a minimum of Rs. 9000/- per month in view of the decision of a Co-ordinate Bench of this Court in ‘United India Insurance Company Limited versus Sube Singh and others’, in FAO No.218 of 2014, decided on 15.01.2014 in respect of an accident on 23.11.2012.

5. Learned counsel further contends that multiplier of ‘13’ had been wrongly applied. Learned counsel contends that in view of the deceased admittedly being 45 years of age, multiplier of ‘14’ was applicable in accordance with paragraph No.21 of decision of Hon’ble the Supreme Court in ‘Sarla Verma and others versus Delhi Transport Corporation and another, [2009(3) Law Herald (SC) 2107] : (2009) 6 SCC 121.

6. Learned counsel further fairly conceded that a sum of Rs. 1,00,000/- awarded on account of loss of love and affection was no longer awardable in view of the decision of Hon’ble the Supreme Court in ‘National Insurance Company Limited versus Pranay Sethi and others’, [2017(4) Law Herald (P&H) 2970 (SC) : 2017 LawHerald.Org 1565] : 2017(4) RCR (Civil) 1009, likewise, a sum of Rs. 1,00,000/- awarded on account of loss of consortium was liable to be reduced to Rs. 40,000/- qua appellant No.1 but appellant Nos.2 & 3 were also entitled to be awarded a sum of Rs. 40,000/- each, on account of loss of parental consortium in accordance with the decision in ‘Magma General Insurance Co. Ltd. versus Nanu Ram Alias Chuhru Ram and others’, [2018(3) Law Herald (SC) 2410 : 2018(4) Law Herald (P&H) 2786 (SC) : 2018 LawHerald.Org 1582] : decided on 18.09.2018 in Civil Appeal No.9518 of 2018, besides compensation on account of transportation and funeral expenses was also liable to be reduced to Rs. 15,000/- only on account of funeral expenses. He however contended that Rs. 15000/- was payable on account of loss of estate.

7. I have considered the submission of learned counsel for the appellants and am of the view that the submission merits acceptance.

8. Admittedly, the deceased was 45 years of age on the basis of postmortem report (Ex. P-7) as mentioned in paragraph No.34 of the award. Accordingly, in view of paragraph No.21 of the decision in Sarla Verma’s case (supra), multiplier of ‘14’ is applicable where the deceased was 45 years of age. Accordingly, multiplier is applied @ ‘14’ as against ‘13’ applied by the learned Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal.

9. As regards, the claim for enhancement of the monthly contribution of the deceased house wife towards the family, a co-ordinate Bench of this Court in respect of an accident of 23.11.2012 upheld the fixation of the notional income of the deceas