UNION OF INDIA Vs. SUBHA MANUAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THESE three Misc. appeals have been preferred by Union of India on a common ground against the award of learned Judge, Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Bikaner dated 17. 3. 1999. Facts may be narrated in short as follows:-

(2.) TRUCK No. RJM 1667 of BSF belongs to Union of India. Its driver Bhagirath Singh was an employee of the Union of India. He was the driver of the said truck on 17. 5. 1993. It started around 4. 30 from O. R. D. loaded with fire wood and was returning to Deepwala. In this truck four persons were on board. When it reached near Muslim Talai (about one Kilometer from Khajuwala), it over turned and the four persons on board died. Smt. Subha Manual wife of J. Manual (who was working on the post of Nayak in the BSF) filed claim petition on her behalf as well as on behalf of her minor children. Similarly, Smt. Rekha Devi wife of Narvesh Kumar Yadav and Babi daughter of Narvesh Kumar Yadav filed claim petition. Deceased Narvesh Kumar Yadav was also an employee of BSF. Smt Meera Devi wife of Bharat Yadav deceased also filed a claim petition. Deceased Bharat Yadav was an emplo-yee in 72 Battalion of BSF at Bikaner. The claim petitions were contested by Union of India.

(3.) RELIANCE has been placed on Hardeo Kaur and others vs. Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation and another (12), in which the Apex Court disallowed deduction of 1/3 for lump sum payment. The deceased was aged 36 years and a Major in Army and assessed the dependency at Rs. 1400/-per month and adopted multiplier of 24. In Urmilla Pandey and others vs. Khalil Ahmad and others (13), deductions on account of lump sum payment to the tune of 33% was held to be unjustified and it was held that even in 1970 the life expectancy could not be less than 65 years. The life expectancy since then has definitely increased and was more when the accident took place. In view of Susamma Thomas's case (supra) the learned Tribunal was right in using the multiplier method. The amounts of award granted in the three cases are not excessive, unreasonable and do not suffer from any illegality.