Rama Devi and Anr. v. Tej Pal and Others

1. Whether Reporters of Local papers may YES be allowed to see the Judgment?

2. To be referred to the Reporter or not? YES

3. Whether the judgment should be YES reported in the Digest? JUDGMENT (Oral) CM No.13163/2009

1. For the reasons stated in the application and noting that the appellant has good case on merits, the delay in filing of this appeal is condoned.

2. CM stands disposed of. MAC.APP. 450/2009

1. The appellants have challenged the award of the learned Tribunal whereby compensation of Rs.6,11,544/- has been awarded to the appellants. The appellants seek enhancement of the award amount.

2. The accident dated 25th August, 2006 resulted in the death 2009:DHC:4819 of Kundan Singh Rawat. The deceased was survived by his parents, widow and a daughter who filed the claim petition before the learned Tribunal.

3. The deceased was aged 26 years at the time of the accident and was working as a driver with M/s Tours and Travels. Since there was no documentary evidence of income, the learned Tribunal took the minimum wages of Rs.3,312/- per month in respect of the unskilled worker, deducted 1/4th towards personal expenses and applied the multiplier of 18 to compute the loss of dependency at Rs.5,36,544/-. Rs.10,000/- has been awarded towards funeral expenses, Rs.25,000/- towards loss of consortium and Rs.40,000/- towards loss of love and affection. The total compensation awarded is Rs.6,11,544/-.

4. The learned counsel for the appellants has urged the following grounds at the time of hearing of this appeal:-

(i) The minimum wages should be taken in respect of a skilled worker.

(ii) The increase in minimum wages due to inflation and rise in price index be taken into consideration.

(Iii) The compensation be awarded for loss of estate.

5. The deceased was a qualified driver and, therefore, the learned Tribunal ought to have taken the minimum wages for a skilled worker as on the date of the accident. The minimum wages for a skilled worker on the date of the accident were Rs.3,695/- per month. The income of the deceased is taken to be Rs.3,695/- per month instead of Rs.3,312/- per month.

6. It is well settled by the catena of judgments of this Court in the cases of Kanwar Devi vs. Bansal Roadways, 2008 ACJ 2182, National Insurance Company Limited vs. Renu Devi III (2008) ACC 134 and UPSRTC vs. Munni Devi, MAC.APP.No.310/2007 decided on 28.07.2008 that the Court should take judicial notice of increase in minimum wages to meet the increase in price index and inflation rate. The Court has taken the view that the minimum wages get doubled over the period of 10 years and increase in minimum wages is not akin to future prospects and the income should be computed by taking the average of minimum wages and its double.

7. Following the aforesaid judgments, the income of the deceased is taken to be Rs.5,542.50 [(Rs.3,695+ Rs.7,390)/2]. Taking the income of the deceased to be Rs.5,542.50, deducting 1/4th towards personal expenses and applying the multiplier of 18, the loss of dependency is computed to be Rs.8,97,885/- (Rs.5,542.50 x 12 x 18 x 3/4).