DALVINDER KAUR Vs. UNITED INDIA INSURANCE CO LTD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellants have challenged the award of the learned Tribunal whereby compensation of Rs. 12,82,200/- has been awarded to them. The appellants seek enhancement of the award amount.

(2.) The accident dated 7th June, 1999 resulted in the death of S. Inderjeet Singh. The deceased was survived by his widow, two minor sons and mother who filed the claim petition before the learned Tribunal.

(3.) The deceased was aged 38 years at the time of the accident and was working as a building contractor. The deceased was an Income-Tax assessee and as per the last Income-Tax Return, the income of the deceased was Rs. 1,54,800/-. However, the Claims Tribunal disregarded the said Income-Tax return on the ground that it was filed after the death of the deceased. The deceased expired on 7th June, 1999 whereas the Income-Tax Return, Ex.PW-2/7 was filed on 30th September, 1999. The Claims Tribunal took the income of the deceased relating to the previous year, according to which the income of the deceased was Rs. 1,28,280/-. 1/3 was deducted towards the personal expenses of the deceased and the multiplier of 15 was applied to compute the loss of dependency at Rs. 12,82,800/-.