New India Assurance Company Ltd vs Dalip Kumar And Others

Puneet Gupta, J

The Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (Additional Session Judge, Anti-Corruption) Jammu, has awarded compensation to the tune of Rs.56,99,862/- along with interest at the rate of 6% per annum in favour of the claimants/respondents Nos.1 & 2 from the date of filing of the petition till the amount is realized.

The only dispute raised by the learned counsel for the appellant is with regard to the extent of compensation awarded in favour of the claimants. The Insurance Company has been held liable to pay the compensation awarded by the Tribunal and, therefore, the driver and owner are not required to be heard in the matter. The learned counsel appearing for the appellant has argued that the income of the deceased assessed by the Tribunal qua the victim-claimant is not determined correctly as some of the components of the salary to which the deceased was held entitled as per the income certificate could not be taken into consideration for assessing the income of the deceased. Learned counsel has pointed out the components which are required to be excluded from the salary certificate issued in favour of the victim while assessing the compensation. The said components are i. SDA ii. SCA iii. COR, iv. TPT and v. House Allowance to which the claimants are not entitled to. The precise submission of learned counsel for the appellant-Company is that aforesaid components cannot be counted in the salary for the purposes of calculation of compensation.

Learned counsel appearing for the claimants-respondents has argued that no deduction can be made from the salary certificate which is brought on record and the gross income as assessed by the Tribunal is required to be retained.

The Court is of the view that the argument of the counsel for the appellant is required to be partially allowed as some of the components of the salary are such which are purely dependent upon the posting of the deceased. At the same time the amount shown against those components cannot be slashed completely. The deceased was in the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) at the time of accident and was posted in Assam. It cannot be said that the duties being performed by the deceased at the time of his death would not have been performed again during the rest of his career as he had still long career ahead when the unfortunate accident which took away his life. The deceased could be posted at difficult areas including Assam during his service career could not be ruled out had he not met with the fatal accident. The perks which may be somewhat personal in nature to the serviceman still benefit the family like the rationing amount and house compensation to which the service personnel would be entitled to.

The learned counsel appearing for the respondents-claimants has placed reliance upon Apex Court judgment in 2011 ACJ 1441 case titled ‘Sunil Sharma & Ors. Vs. Bachitar Singh & Ors.’ Wherein the Apex Court keeping in view the facts and circumstances of the case held that only the computer allowance is to be deducted while assessing the compensation on the basis of the salary of the deceased. The Court upheld the other components of the salary certificate upon which the claimants had claimed the compensation.

The court keeping in view overall facts and circumstances of the case and the salary components holds the following amount of salary which is to be calculated for the purposes of compensation:-

Monthly basic salary of deceased : Rs. 26000/-

Other salary components which are required to be taken into consideration :-

i) S.D.A. Rs. 1300 instead of 2600

ii) C.H. Rs. 900 instead of 1800

iii) T.P.T. 0 instead of 1800

iv) Soap Allowance 0 instead of 45

v) DA on TPT 0 instead of 90

vi) COR Rs.3033

vii) Compensation House Rs.1800

viii) Income Tax Rs. 190

deduction

Thus, the salary component which is required to be considered for compensation after deduction comes to Rs.33,033/-.

Thus, the compensation to which the claimants-respondent Nos. 1 & 2 are held entitled to under various heads is as under:-

Future prospects at 50% on Rs.33,033/- : Rs. (33,033+16,516) = Rs. 49,549/-

Deduction (1/2) on account of Rs. 24,774 personal expenses of deceased

Monthly loss of dependency Rs. 24,774

Annual Loss of dependency (Rs. 24774 x 12) Rs. 2,97,288/-

Multiplier applied 17

Total loss of dependency (Rs. 297288 x 17) Rs.50,53,896/-

Loss of consortium Rs.80,000/-

(40,000/- for each claimant)

Funeral expenses Rs. 15000/-

Loss of estate Rs. 15000/-

Total Rs.51,63,896/-

Thus, the claimants/respondents No.1 & 2 are held entitled to compensation of Rs.51,63,896/- rounded to Rs.51,64,000/- along with the interest @6 % per annum from the date of filing of the claim petition till realization of the amount to be paid by the appellant- Insurance Company. The amount, if any, received by the claimants-respondents shall stand adjusted and so will be the interest calculated accordingly.

In view of the discussion made above, the appeal is allowed to the extent mentioned above.