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Judgment
G.P. Mittal, J.
CM. APPL. No.372/2003 The Appellant has explained in detail the circumstances under which she was not informed by her counsel about passing of the impugned award. For the reasons stated in the application, the delay of 7 years 7 months and 16 days in filing the Appeal is condoned. The CM. APPL No.372/2003 stands disposed of. FAO. No.165/2003
The Appeal is for enhancement of compensation of Rs. 90,000/- in favour of the Appellants for the death of Mohan Paradarshani who died in a motor vehicle accident which occurred on 11.12.1981. During inquiry before the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal(the Claims Tribunal), the Appellants claimed that the deceased was working as a Accountant with New Okhla Industrial Development Authority(NOIDA) and drawing a salary of Rs. 1536.50P per month on the date of the accident. The deceased was survived by his widow and two sons. The Claims Tribunal took the loss of dependency as Rs. 1500/- per month itself and applied a multiplier of just ''5'' to compute the loss of dependency as Rs. 90,000/-.
A plea with regard to limited liability with respect to the passengers travelling in the bus(the deceased being one of them) was raised before the Claims Tribunal. The same did not find favour and it was held that the Respondent No.4 Insurance Company''s liability was unlimited. The finding on negligence and liability are not challenged by the Respondent Insurance Company and have thus become final between the parties.
The following contentions are raised on behalf of the Appellants:
(i) The multiplier of ''5'' considering the age of the deceased to be 48 was too low; appropriate multiplier at this age was ''13''.
(ii) The deceased''s future prospects were not considered, particularly in view of PW3''s testimony who
deposed that the deceased''s salary was increased retrospectively w.e.f. 01.07.1979.
(iii) The Claims Tribunal erred in not granting any compensation towards non-pecuniary damages.
The Appeal must succeed on all the grounds.
It may be noticed that the deceased was in service of UP Government and on the date of the accident was working with NOIDA. The Appellants examined Subodh Kumar Sharma, Junior Accountant, Noida Authority as PW5. He deposed that on the date of the accident, the deceased''s salary was Rs. 1536.50P per month. He testified that the salary was retrospectively revised on 01.07.1979 and the deceased''s salary would have been doubled. The details of the salary on account of revision of the Pay Scales with retrospective effect was, however, not given. It is difficult to accept that on revision of the Pay Scales, salary of a Govt. employee would double. Normally, there is an increase of about 10% on implementation of a Pay Commission. Thus, the Appellants are entitled to an increase of 10% on account of retrospective pay revision and an increase of 30% towards future prospects as the deceased was aged 48 years( per Smt. Sarla Verma and Others Vs. Delhi Transport Corporation and Another, ). There would be a deduction of 1/3rd towards personal and living expenses as per Sarla Verma (supra), and the multiplier of 13 would be applied as per the age of the deceased. The loss of dependency comes to Rs. 2,23,641/-( Rs. 1536/- + 40% x 12 x 2 �3 x 13). Considering that the accident took place in the year 1982, I would make a provision of Rs. 15,000/- towards loss of love and affection and Rs. 5,000/- each towards loss of consortium, loss to estate and funeral expenses. The overall compensation thus comes to Rs. 2,53,641/-.
There was a long delay of about 7 years 7 months and 16 days in filing the Appeal and the delay in filing the Appeal was condoned. In the circumstances of the case, the Appellants would be entitled to interest @ 7.5% per annum from the date of the filing of the Petition till the date of the award and then for the period of five years during the pendency of the Appeal and thereafter till the date of payment.
The Respondent No.4 Insurance Company is directed to deposit the enhanced amount of Rs. 1,63,641/- along with interest in the name of the First Appellant with UCO Bank, Delhi High Court Branch within six weeks. The enhanced compensation shall enure for the benefit of the First Appellant. The enhanced compensation shall be released in favour of the First Appellant immediately on deposit.
The Appeal is allowed in above terms. The pending Applications stand disposed of.