M.R. Sharma, J. - (1.) SHRI P. D. Khanna, Assistant Administrative Officer of the Life Insurance Corporation of India, posted at Chandigarh, was run over by Punjab Roadways bus No. PLR -244 near the bus stand when he was crossing the road between sectors 22 and 17, on September 9, 1969. His wife Mrs. Lilawati, his two sons Anil Kumar and Kamal Kumar, and his daughter Rita filed a claim application before the learned Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, Chandigarh, who after going into the matter awarded them compensation as under: Smt. Lilawati (widow) - Rs. 14,000.00 Kamal Kumar (son) - Rs. 10,000.00 Anil Kumar (son) - Rs. 5,000.00 Rita (daughter) - Rs. 5,000.00 Total: Rs. 34,000.00 The State of Punjab has filed FAO No. 185 of 1973 for the reduction of the compensation whereas the claimants have filed FAO No. 199 of 1973 for the enhancement of the same. I have gone through the evidence with the help of the learned Counsel.
(2.) IT is in evidence the deceased used to earn a sum of Rs 1030.37 per month inclusive of salary and allowances. It is in the statement of Mrs. Lilawati that the deceased used to give Rs. 800/ - per month to her for household expenses. The family of the deceased consisted of five persons. Two of them were adults and three of them were minor children. Since Rs. 800/ -per month were being paid to Mrs. Lilawati, that perhaps also included all the sundry expenses which were required for the up keep of the entire family. What I mean to say is that the entire amount was not being spent for the kitchen if the deceased had been giving only Rs. 800/ -per month to his wife. He was perhaps spending bulk of the remaining amount on himself. In this situation, I assess the damages sustained by the family of the deceased at the round figure of Rs. 700/ -per month. The deceased was 56 1/2 years old at the time of the accident. In Jaswant Kaur and Ors. v. Ratti Ram and Ors. : 1971 A.C.J. 31, decided by H. R. Sodhi, J., the expectancy of life was taken as 70 years even though the accident in that case had taken place on October 6, 1966. In an earlier case i.e. Himachal Government Transport, Simla and Anr. v. Joginder Singh and Anr. : 1970 A.C.J. 37, the same learned Judge had taken the life expectancy at 60 years and in that case the accident had taken place on December 11, 1959. It appears that the learned judge himself revised his earlier opinion about the normal expectancy of life. If we take the life expectancy as 70 years, then the life of Shri P. D Khanna deceased was cut short by 13 1/2 years. In Lachman Singh and Ors. v. Gurmii Kaur and Ors. : 1979 A.C.J. 170, a Full Bench of this Court laid down that for determining damages, the income of the deceased at the time of his death should be first determined and then it should be multiplied by a suitable multiple to assess the total damages. In that case the life had been cut short by 37 years and the Full Bench applied the multiple of 16. However, in that case, the deceased had died at a comparatively younger age. Keeping in view all these circumstances, I think if the multiple of 5 is applied, that would adequately serve the ends of justice in the instant case. The total compensation payable to the claimants, therefore, comes to Rs. 42,000/ - and 1 award accordingly. The claimants shall be entitled to have proportionate costs of this appeal and also interest at the rate of 6% per annum with effect from the date of the claim application.
(3.) MR . Sarhadi, the learned Advocate -General, Punjab, has submitted that the deceased while crossing the road should also be held to have contributed to the negligence. It is not disputed that the accident took place a little beyond the square where four roads meet. Almost on all the crossings in Chandigarh, a spot is indicated near the squares from which place the pedestrians can cross the road. Every owner of the vehicle is expected to slew down his vehicle when he reaches such a place. The evidence of Manohar Lal A.W. 2 and Dr. Dina Nath A.W. 3 indicates that there were skid marks of the bus up to a distance of about 21 paces. This shows that even while the bus driver was taking a turn round the square he did not take the precaution of slowing down the speed of the bus. In this situation, I am unable to hold that the deceased also was negligent. The argument raised by Mr. Sarhadi is, therefore, turned down. The appeal stands disposed of accordingly.;