NARENDER DEV POONIA Vs. HASAN MOHD.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted.

(2.) The brief facts of the case are that Ajay Poonia (deceased) 28 years old, who was a qualified engineer, met with an accident on 3/3/2001. The deceased at the time of accident, alongwith his wife Smt. Annu, was travelling in his Maruti car bearing registration No.HR-26/11/6001, which was struck by a truck bearing registration No.DL-IGA-7066. The deceased died on the spot and his wife sustained serious injuries. An FIR No.147 of 2001 dtd. 3/3/2001 was registered against the driver of the truck at Police Station Shahpura. The appellants further preferred a claim petition under Sec. 166 of Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (for short, "1988 Act"), seeking compensation on account of death of Ajay Poonia. The Tribunal vide judgment and award dtd. 11/2/2003 decided all the issues in favour of the appellants and held the driver of the vehicle was driving in a rash and negligent manner. The Tribunal considered the income of the deceased as Rs.5,000.00 per month and accordingly determined the compensation of Rs.7,35,000.00 with interest at the rate of 9% per annum from the date of the petition till the date of realisation of the amount of award.

(3.) Aggrieved by the said award of the Tribunal, the appellants preferred an appeal before the High Court of Punjab and Haryana seeking enhancement of the compensation. The High Court by the impugned judgment and order dtd. 16/9/2022 considered the income at Rs.7,000.00 per month in the absence of any proof of income of the deceased and accordingly determined compensation to be Rs.17,08,400.00 with interest of 7.5% from the date of filing of the claim petition till the date of actual payment. Aggrieved by the said impugned order, the applicants have preferred the present appeal.