In an appeal by the parents of a 6-year-old child who died in a vehicular accident, the Court enhanced the Tribunal's award of Rs.80,000 to Rs.1,50,000 based on the ratio of Lata Wadhwa and Piara Singh, and directed payment within three months.
Compensation enhanced to Rs.1,50,000 with interest, payable within three months.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH.
DATE OF DECISION: 7.8.2008
Lilu Ram etc. ...Appellants
VERSUS
Bharat Singh etc. …Respondents
CORAM
HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE PERMOD KOHLI
PRESENT: Mr.Sanjiv Gupta, Advocate for appellants
Mr.Anil Malik, Advocate for respondents no.1 & 2
Mr.Vivek Singal, Advocate for respondent no.3
Permod Kohli, J.
This is claimants' appeal for enhancement of the amount of compensation. Claimants are father and mother of Sandeep aged 6 years who died in the vehicular accident. Even according to the post-mortem report, his age has been reported as 6/7 years. The Tribunal has awarded Rs.80,000/- as compensation including no fault liability. Facts are not disputed. The deceased was a child and was not earning.
Learned counsel for the Insurance Company has referred to the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Kaushlya Devi v. Karan Arora and others, 2007 ACJ 1870 . In
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this case, the deceased was aged 14 years. He was non-earning. The Tribunal awarded an amount of Rs.1.00 lac. The High Court affirmed the award and the same has been upheld by the Hon'ble Supreme Court. Learned counsel for the Insurance Company has cited another judgment in the case of Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Syed Ibrahim and others, 2007 ACJ 2816 . In this case, a boy aged 7 years died in the vehicular accident. The Tribunal awarded an amount of Rs.51500/-. In an appeal before the High Court the award was enhanced to Rs.1,52,000/-. However, the Hon'ble Apex Court set aside the award of the High Court and maintained that of the Tribunal.
To the contrary, learned counsel appearing for the claimants has relied upon a judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Lata Wadhwa v. State of Bihar, 2001(4) RCR (Civil) SC 673 . In this case, a large number of people died in devastating fire at Jamshed Pur including 26 children. The writ petition was filed before the Hon'ble Supreme Court invoking Article 32 of the Constitution of India. The Hon'ble Supreme Court, applying the principles of fatal accidents, awarded an amount of Rs.1,50,000/+ Rs.50,000/- for the death of child between 10 to 15 years. Relying upon the aforesaid judgment, a Division Bench of this Court in the case of Piara Singh and others vs. Satpal Kumar and others, 2006 (4) RCR (Civil) 546 awarded an amount of Rs.1.50 lacs for the death of a child of seven years old. In the aforesaid case, taking the notional income at Rs.15,000/- and applying the multiplier of 15, following observations have been
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made:-
“8.In the death case of Sukhdeep Singh, a child of 7 years, his parents, namely, Bhagwant Singh (father) and Karamjit Kaur (mother), are the claimants. It appears that the deceased was studying in Class II in Vishkarma Adarsh School, Khizrabad, Kharar (Ropar) and there was no rebuttal of the evidence regarding the age of the deceased. The Tribunal, after taking into consideration, the young age group of the parents and that of the deceased child has fixed the notional income at Rs.15,000/- per annum and has deducted 1/3rd share as expenses on himself. Thus, the dependency amount has been assessed at Rs.10,000/- per annum and the multiplier of 15 has been applied. Thus, the total amount of compensation has been worked out to Rs.1,50,000/-. In the case of Lata Wadhwa (supra), the assessment of the compensation amount in the case of children between the age group of 5-10 has been discussed and the dependency amount of Rs.1,50,000/- per child was fixed by applying the multiplier of 15. Thus, by applying the ratio of the judgment and the calculation, we grant the same amount of Rs.1,50,000/-.”
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Applying the aforesaid ratio, I enhance the compensation amount from Rs.80,000/- to Rs.1,50,000/-. The claimants shall be entitled to interest on the enhanced amount. Let the amount of compensation be paid to the claimants within a period of three months from today.
Disposed of.
(PERMOD KOHLI) JUDGE
07.8.2008 MFK
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3 issues framed by the court
Whether the compensation awarded by the Tribunal for the death of a 6-year-old child in a vehicular accident should be enhanced on the basis of prevailing judicial precedents.
What is the appropriate compensation amount to be awarded for a fatal accident involving a child of school-going age.
Whether interest should be granted on the enhanced amount of compensation.
Colour shows how this judgement treated each authority
Kaushlya Devi v. Karan Arora and others, 2007 ACJ 1870Referred¶14
Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Syed Ibrahim and others, 2007 ACJ 2816Referred¶16
Lata Wadhwa v. State of Bihar, 2001(4) RCR (Civil) SC 673Applied¶17
Piara Singh and others vs. Satpal Kumar and others, 2006 (4) RCR (Civil) 546Relied on¶17
Lilu Ram etc.
Bharat Singh etc.
Permod Kohli
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
