Reba Shee and Others vs Taj Pal and Others

J.R. Midha, J.—The appellants have challenged the award of the learned Tribunal whereby compensation of Rs. 2,85,000/- has been awarded to the appellants. The appellants seek the enhancement of the award amount.

The accident dated 6th June, 2006 resulted in the death of Govind Lal Shee. The deceased was crossing the road through zebra crossing when the offending bus came and crushed him to death. The deceased was aged 50 years at the time of the accident and was survived by widow, one son and one daughter who filed the claim petition before the learned Tribunal.

The deceased was earning Rs. 6,500/- per month. The learned Tribunal took the income of the deceased at Rs. 6,000/- per month and deducted 1/3rd towards the personal expenses and applied the multiplier of 5 to compute the loss of dependency at Rs. 2,40,000/-. Rs. 10,000/- has been awarded towards loss of funeral expenses, Rs. 15,000/- towards loss of consortium and Rs. 20,000/- towards loss of love and affection. The total compensation awarded is Rs. 2,85,000/-.

The appellant has challenged the impugned award on the ground that the age of the deceased was 57 years and the multiplier of 9 should have been applied instead of 5. The second ground of challenge is that the future prospects have not been considered. The third ground of challenge is that the compensation for loss of consortium and loss of love and affection be enhanced.

With respect to the multiplier applied by the learned Tribunal, the multiplier for the age of 57 years is 9 as per the recent judgment of the Apex Court in the case of Sarla Verma v. Delhi Transport Corporation 2009 (6) Scale 129 decided on 15th April, 2009. The appellants have duly proved the ration card which shows the age of the deceased to be 57 years. The learned Counsel for the respondent submits that the post-mortem report mentions the age of the deceased to be 63 years. The post-mortem report carries the probable age of the deceased but the ration card is a more authentic evidence of the age of the deceased. The age of the deceased is, therefore, taken to be 57 years and the multiplier is enhanced from 5 to 9. The compensation is computed to be Rs. 4,77,000/- (Rs. 48,000 x 9 + Rs. 10,000 + Rs. 15,000 + Rs. 20,000).

With respect to the future prospects, as per the recent judgment of the Apex Court in Sarla Verma''s case (Supra), no future prospects have to be computed after the age of the 50 years.

The compensation for loss of love and affection and consortium has been fairly assessed by the learned Tribunal.

The appeal is partially allowed. The award amount is enhanced from Rs. 2,85,000/- to Rs. 4,77,000/- along with interest @7% per annum from the date of filing of the petition till realization. Respondent No. 3 is directed to deposit the enhanced amount along with interest with the learned Tribunal within 30 days and the learned Tribunal is directed to release the same in the same proportion and in the same manner as in paras 28 and 29 of the original award.