- (1.) Vide this judgment, I intend to dispose of FAO No. 379 of 2001 titled as National Insurance Company Ltd. Vs. Smt. Hira Devi and others and FAO No. 1104 of 2001 titled as Smt. Hira Devi and another vs. Kuldeep Sharma and others, as both these appeals have arisen out of the same award. Smt. Hira Devi -mother, Vishwanath Singh -father and Sanju Kumari -sister of deceased Rajesh Singh, filed claim petition claiming compensation on account of death of Rajesh Singh in a motor vehicular accident. The claim petition was partly accepted and a sum of Rs.72,000/- was granted to the claimants. The claimants have preferred FAO No. 1104 of 2001 for enhancement of compensation, whereas the Insurance company has preferred FAO No. 379 of 2001 claiming that Insurance company is not liable to pay the amount of compensation.
(2.) According to the case of the claimants, deceased was earning Rs.2,000/- per month as a labourer. Learned Tribunal has taken the income of the deceased as Rs.1,800/- per month under the Minimum Wages Act and 1/3rd amount was deducted in respect of personal expenses of the deceased and the dependency was taken as Rs.1,200/- per month. Yearly dependency was taken as Rs.14,400/- (Rs.1,200/- X 12). The age of the deceased was taken as 25 years and it is mentioned in the award that since he was of marriageable age, so multiplier of 5 should be applied. So, by applying the multiplier of 5, the amount of compensation has been calculated as Rs.72,000/- (Rs..14,400/- X 5).
(3.) Learned counsel for the claimants has submitted that multiplier of 5 is on lower side. He has further contended that no amount in respect of funeral expenses, loss of estate, loss of consortium etc. has been granted.;