Turning to the determination of compensation, it is no doubt true that the Tribunal has taken the age of the deceased to apply the relevant multiplier and, in fact, applied multiplier ‘16’, but not the age of the mother of the deceased to take into consideration the relevant multiplier. But, however, in view of the decision of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Amrit Bhanu Shali v. National Insurance Company where the deceased dies in unmarried status is an earning member, the age of the deceased would be the criteria for determining the multiplier provided in Sarla Verma v. Delhi Transport Corporation. In the instant case, though multiplier ‘16’ was taken, the relevant multiplier would be ‘18’ and 50% of annual income has to be deducted towards personal expenses since he died in unmarried status. Thus, it would be Rs.1,35,000/-, but, in view of Puttamma v. K.L.Narayana Reddy, where a non-earning member dies, an amount of Rs.1,50,000/- has to be determined as compensation till the second schedule is amended. When, kept in view, that the Tribunal has not awarded any amount towards loss of love and affection and, certainly, the amount of Rs.1,67,000/- determined by the Tribunal as compensation cannot be construed as excessive and arbitrary. Therefore, even there is no merit in the other ground. However, concerning interest, the Tribunal has granted interest at 9% p.a., and the same is reduced to 7.5% p.a. as per the decision of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Rajesh v. Rajbir Singh.
