G I P RAILWAY COMPANY Vs. MTNANNHI BAI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal arises out of a suit brought by the plaintiffs-respondents against the 6. I.P. Railway for damages under Section 1 of the Fatal Accidents Act 13 of 1855. The plaintiffs are Mt. Nannhi Bai, the wife aged 25, and Mt. Shiaman, the daughter, aged 8 of a deceased schoolmaster named Brindaban Bihari Saran, who was killed in a Railway accident on the 10th May 1921 between Jhansi and Manikpur. In this appeal no question is raised except the amount of damages awarded by the lower Court. The lower Court has awarded a sum of Rs. 6,500, whereas the appellant claims that a sum of Rs. 4,000 offered originally by the Railway Company should have been deemed sufficient.

(2.) The Subordinate Judge has taken the following factors into consideration in awarding the sum of Rs. 6,500. The deceased was of 30 years of age, and at the time of his death was earning a salary of Rs. 30 per mensem as a schoolmaster and Rs. 15 per mensem by giving private tuition. There was evidence that there was nothing to prevent the deceased from rising to the post of head-master of a town school, the maximum pay of which is Rs. 60. The Subordinate Judge has pointed out that the daughter s marriage would have involved an expenditure of at least Rs. 2,000, and there was some evidence on which to support this estimate.

(3.) The sum of Rs. 4,000 at 6 per cent., interest would yield a sum of Rs. 20 a month, but it is doubtful whether 6 per cent., would be obtained with safety. If 5 per cent. be adopted then this sum would only give about Rs. 16 per month. It is improbable that the widow and daughter could live on the scale on which they lived during the life-time of the deceased on an expenditure of less than Rs. 30 a month. Any savings by the widow during the 8 years before the daughter would be likely to go to the house of her husband would certainly be used for her marriage. Indeed we may take it for certain that the widow would for that purpose dispose of some of her capital as well as savings.