NATIONAL INSURANCE CO. LTD Vs. VIRENDER KANWAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE appellant has challenged the award of the Claims Tribunal whereby compensation of Rs.6,80,000/- has been awarded to claimants. The appellant seeks reduction of the award amount. The accident dated 10th May, 1994 resulted in the death of

(2.) MANISH Kanwar. The deceased was survived by his parents and brother who filed the claim petition before the Claims Tribunal. The deceased was aged 26 years at the time of the accident. It was claimed that he was earning Rs.5,000/- per month. The Claims Tribunal took the minimum wages of Rs.3,000/- per month, added 50% towards future prospects, deducted 1/3 rd towards his personal expenses and applied the multiplier of 18 to compute the loss of dependency at Rs.6,48,000/-. Rs.2,000/- has been awarded towards funeral expenses and Rs.30,000/- towards loss of love and affection. The Claims Tribunal computed the total compensation as Rs.6,80,000/- along with interest @ 8% per annum from the date of filing of the petition till realization.

(3.) LEARNED counsel for the appellant submits that the deceased was unmarried and, therefore, the multiplier should have been applied according to the age of the parents. In the recent case of Amrit Bhanu Shali v. National Insurance Company Ltd., 2012 (6) SCALE 1, the Supreme Court has held that in the case of death of an unmarried person, the multiplier has to be applied according to the age of the deceased and not according to the age of the parents. The submission of the learned counsel for the appellant, therefore, has no merit and is hereby rejected. It is next contended by learned counsel for the appellant that the deceased was aged 26 years and the appropriate multiplier according to the judgment of Sarla Verma v. Delhi Transport Corporation, (2009) 6 SCC 121 is 17 whereas the Claims Tribunal has applied multiplier of 18. It is submitted that the multiplier is, therefore, liable to be reduced to 17. There is merit in this contention. Following the judgment of the Supreme Court in Sarla Verma (supra), the multiplier is reduced from 18 to 17.