Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd v. Ms. Prabha Singh @ Faro

1. The appellant has challenged the award of the Claims Tribunal whereby compensation of Rs.7,37,000/- has been awarded to the claimants/respondents no.l and 2.

2. The accident dated 11^'^ February, 2004 resulted inthe death of Rakesh Kumar Singh. The deceasedwas survived by his father, brother and sisters who filed the claim petition before the Claims Tribunal. The deceased was aged of 19 years at the time of the accident and was working as a cleaner with Indian Air Force earning Rs.5,009/- per month. The Claims Tribunal took the income of the deceased as Rs.7,364/-, deducted 50% towards the personal expenses of the deceased and applied the multiplier of 16 to compute the loss of dependency at Rs.7,06,944/-. Rs.25,000/has been awarded towards loss of love and affection and Rs.5,000/towards funeral expenses. The Claims Tribunal computed the total MAC.APP.No. 104of 2007 2013:DHC:8548 compensation as Rs.7,37,000/- along with interest @ 7% per annum from the date of filing ofthe petition till realization.

3. Learned counsel for the appellant has urged the following grounds at the time of hearing ofthis appeal:

(i) The deceased was unmarried at the time of the accident and therefore the multiplier should have been applied according to the age ofthe father.

(ii) Brother and sister of the deceased were not dependent upon and therefore, they are not entitled to the compensation of loss of dependency.

(iii) The job of the deceased was not permanent and therefore future prospects should not have taken into consideration.

4. With respect to the application of the multiplier, this case is covered by the recent judgment of the Supreme Court of India in the case ofAmrit Bhanu Shali v. National Insurance Co. Ltd., 2012 (6) SCALE 1 where it has been held that the multiplier has to be applied according to the age of the deceased and the age of the dependents has no nexus with the computation of compensation. The deceased was aged 19 years at the time of the accident and the appropriate multiplier according to the judgment of Sarla Verma v. ^ DTC, (2009) 6 see 121 is 18 whereas the Tribunal has applied a lower multiplier of 16.

5. With respect to the income of the deceased, the deceased was working with Indian Air Force as a cleaner and his income has been proved by the witness from Air Force. The deceased was on probation and had prospects of confirmation as well as promotion. MAC.APP.No. 104 of 2007 /V As such, there is no infirmity in the computation of future prospects of the deceased.

6. With respect to the appellant's objection to the dependency of the brother and sister of the deceased, it is noted that the father of the deceased was dependent and alive at the time of the filing of the claim petition and therefore, even if the claims of brother and sister of the deceased are not taken into consideration, the total compensation awarded would remain the same.

7. There is no merit in this appeal which is hereby dismissed.

JANUARY 11, 2013 dk MAC.APP.No. 104of2007 * J.R. MIDHA, J