S. SELVI Vs. M. DHARVESH MAHIDEEN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE wife aged 24 years, daughters aged 7, 6 and son, aged 1, along with petitioners 5 & 6 filed the claim petition claiming a compensation of Rs.10 lakhs in respect of the death of one Sugumar. He was a driver of an Auto, earning a sum of Rs.11,000/ - per month, contributing the entire income to his family. In respect of the death of the sole breadwinner of the family, the claimants have filed this claim petition.

(2.) WHILE quantifying the compensation, the tribunal has taken the age of the deceased as 30 and adopting the multiplier at 18 and taking the monthly income at Rs.3,000/ -, the loss of dependency has been calculated at (Rs.3,000 x 12 x 18)= Rs.6,48,000/ -. Awarding a sum of Rs.15,000/ - to each of the claimants, thereby awarding a sum of Rs.90,000/ - towards loss of love and affection, Rs.15,000/ - towards loss of consortium, Rs.5,000/ - towards funeral expenses and Rs.5,000/ - towards transport expenses, the total compensation has been quantified at Rs. 3 7,63,000/ - and break up details are as under:

(3.) THE contention of the learned counsel for the claimants is that when the dependents were more in number, nobody can expect spending of 1/3rd upon the deceased and therefore, deduction at 1/3rd made by the tribunal cannot be accepted. This contention is well -founded, and as per the reported decision in 4 (Santhosh Devi Vs. National Insurance Company Limited and others) reported in, 2012 Vol.(1) O.J.R. (S.C), deduction ought to have been made based on the number of dependents, who are depending upon the deceased. As there were six dependents upon the deceased, the tribunal ought to have deducted 1/5th towards personal expenses. If 1/5th amount is deducted, the contribution of the deceased to the family would be Rs.3,600/ - and by adopting multiplier 18, the compensation payable on account of loss of dependency would be Rs.7,77,600/ -.