NATIONAL INSURANCE COMPANY LTD Vs. KHASTI DEVI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) HAVING heard the learned counsel of either party, it transpires that the annual income of the deceased has been assessed taking into account Rs.150/ - per day as the minimum wages, which could have been earned by an ordinary labourer. This way, the income of the deceased was derived at Rs.54,000/ - per annum. The Court does agree with such finding arrived at by the learned Tribunal for assessing this much of income of deceased.

(2.) IT is pertinent to mention here that the deceased was a motorcycle borne youth of 24 years and was driving that bike at the time of incident. He was unmarried and his parents were not solely dependent on him. Thus, the dependency of the family i.e. father, mother and unmarried sister has also rightly been assessed to be fifty percent of the total income of the youth.

(3.) NOW , the question arises towards the application of multiplier. The Tribunal has applied the multiplier of '18'. Learned counsel for the Insurance Company has placed reliance on a judgment of the Hon'ble Apex Court in case of Municipal Corporation of Greater Bombay v. Laxman Iyer and another, 2003 8 SCC 731, wherein the deceased was also an unmarried youth of 18 years. In the said case, the Apex Court held that: -