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Judgment
S.S. Sodhi, J.—The appeals here pertain to the accident which resulted in the death of Madan Lai Nagpal. He was going towards Delhi on a scooter when the car DLX 8381 coming from the opposite direction knocked him down. He died at the spot. This happened on June 7, 1970, near Good Year Factory on the Delhi-Mathura Road.
The finding of the Tribunal was that the accident had been caused entirely due to the rash and negligent driving of the car driver. A sum of Rs. 1,08,000/- was awarded as compensation to the claimants, they being the parents, widow and three minor children of the deceased.
The controversy raised in appeal now is with regard to the adequacy of the compensation awarded and the liability of the Oriental Fire and General Insurance Company Ltd. to pay the amount awarded.
The principles governing the assessment of compensation payable to dependents of the deceased in such cases are those as laid down by the Full Bench of this High Court in Lachman Singh v. Gurmit Kaur 1979 ACJ 170 (P and H), where it was observed that the compensation to be assessed is the pecuniary loss caused to the dependents by the death of the deceased and for the purpose of calculating the just compensation, annual dependency of the dependents should be determined in terms of the annual loss accruing to them due to the abrupt termination of life. For this purpose annual earnings of the deceased at the time of the accident and the amount out of the same which he was spending for the maintenance of the dependents will be the determining factor. This basic figure will then be multiplied by a suitable multiplier. It was further observed that the suitable multiplier shall be determined by taking into consideration the number of years of the dependency of the various dependents, the number of the years by which the life of the deceased was cut short and the various imponderable factors such as early natural death of the deceased, his becoming incapable of supporting the dependents due to the illness or any other natural handicap or calamity, the prospects of the remarriage of the widow, the coming up of the age of the dependents and their developing independent sources of income as well as the pecuniary benefits which might accrue to the dependents on account of the death of the person concerned.
Madan Lai Nagpal deceased was about 39 years of age at the time of his death. He was employed as Assistant Manager with M/s. Bata (India) Ltd. at a salary of Rs. 1,195/- per month. The terms and conditions of his employment being those as contained in the appointment letter exhibit P1. Adverting thereto, what was stressed by Mr. L.M. Suri, counsel for the claimants, was the entitlement of deceased to free medical aid, leave travel concession and also a residence at reasonable cost. The argument being that these facilities deserve to be kept in view in assessing the loss suffered by the dependents of the deceased.
In dealing with this aspect of the matter, it deserves note, however, that no residence had been provided to the deceased by the Company he was employed with and there is no material on record to show that he was entitled to any allowance in lieu thereof. In the matter of leave travel concession, there is nothing to show the scale and value thereof. Not much value can, therefore, be attached to these two items. Reimbursement of medical expenses of the deceased and his family was indeed an important perk which must be kept in view.
The other factor which calls for due regard is that of the future prospects of the deceased in his career. It has come on record that he had joined merely as a clerk and within a short span had risen to the post of Assistant Manager and there was every likelihood that he would have risen further still.
Turning to the claimants, it will be seen that the widow of the deceased was only 33 years of age at the time of her husband''s death and there were then three minor children, besides, his parents who were however of advance age. Considered in their totality, the circumstances of the deceased and the claimants, in the context of relevant factors as set out in Lachman Singh''s case, 1979 ACJ 170 (P and H), the appropriate multiplier would clearly be 16 and the loss to the claimants deserves to be taken at Rs. 12,000/- per annum. So computed, the entitlement of the claimants to compensation would work out to Rs. 1,92,000/- .
As regards the liability of the insurance company, the case pleaded was that the car DLX 8381 had been transferred by its owner, M/s. Shree Bajrang Trading and Supply Company before this accident to M/s. Sudarshan Steel Rolling Mills. This was controverted by both these Respondents. This matter, however, now stands concluded by the judgment of the civil court exhibit R.7 which was a suit filed by the insurance company against M/s. Shree Bajrang Trading and Supply Company where precisely this very question had been raised. The insurance company had filed the suit seeking to recover from M/s. Shree Bajrang Trading and Supply Company the amount paid for repair of the damage suffered by the car in this accident on the ground that the car had been transferred to M/s. Sudarshan Steel Rolling Mills prior to this accident. This plea was specifically negatived by the civil court, holding that the insurance company had failed to prove that the car had been transferred to some other person before the accident. This plea being inter-parties, clearly operates as res judicata and is thus binding upon the insurance company in these proceedings too.
The compensation payable to the claimants is accordingly hereby enhanced to Rs. 1,92,000/- . The claimants shall be entitled to this amount along with interest at the rate of 12 per cent per annum from the date of the application to the date of the payment of the amount awarded. Out of the amount awarded, a sum of Rs. 10,000/- shall be paid to the parents of the deceased, Rs. 25,000/- each to the three minor children and the balance to the widow of the deceased. The amount payable to the minor claimants shall be paid to them in such manner as the Tribunal may deem to be in their best interest. The liability for the amount awarded shall be joint and several of Respondents Madan Lal, M/s. Shree Bajrang Trading and Supply Company as also of M/s. Oriental Fire and General Insurance Company Ltd.
In the result, the appeal filed by the claimants is accepted with costs while that of the insurance company is dismissed with costs. Counsel''s fee Rs. 300/- .