NATIONAL INSURANCE CO. LTD. Vs. SUDESH & ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE appellant has challenged the award of the Claims Tribunal whereby compensation of Rs.17,31,000/ - has been awarded to claimants/respondents No. 1 to 6. The appellant seeks reduction of the award amount. The accident dated 12th November, 2002 resulted in the death of Krishan Lal Arora. The deceased was aged 49 years at the time of the accident and was survived by his widow, two sons, one daughter and parents who filed the claim petition before the Claims Tribunal. The deceased was working as a Meter Reading Inspector with the BSES Rajdhani Power Limited drawing a salary of Rs.11,074/ - per month. The Claims Tribunal added 50% towards his future prospects, deducted 1/3rd towards his personal expenses and applied the multiplier of 13 to compute the loss of dependency at Rs.17,16,000/ -. The Claims Tribunal has awarded Rs.15,000/ - towards funeral expenses. The total compensation awarded is Rs.17,31,000/ -.

(2.) THE learned counsel for the appellant has urged at the time of hearing of this appeal that the future prospects should not have been taken into consideration and in any view of the matter, the future prospects could not have been more than 30% in terms of the judgment of the Supreme Court in the case of Sarla Verma v. Delhi Transport Corporation, : (2009) 6 SCC 121.

(3.) THE learned counsel further submits that the Claims Tribunal has not deducted personal allowances and Income Tax while computing the income of the deceased. No Income Tax is payable for the relevant year if the highest permissible deductions and investments are taken into account. However, the washing allowance of Rs.35/ - being a personal expenditure is deducted from the salary of the deceased. The income of the deceased after the aforesaid deduction is taken as Rs.11,039/ -.