- (1.) This order will dispose of the three aforesaid appeals which are directed against the common award dated 19.7.1986.
(2.) Three separate claim petitions were preferred by the claimants/appellants on account of the deaths of Kuldip Kaur, Agya Kaur and Prem Kumari alias Prem Kaur in the accident which occurred on 17.3.1985.
(3.) The Tribunal awarded the following compensation to the claimants in the said claim petitions:- i) For the death of Kuldip Kaur Rs. 48,000/- ii) For the death of Agya Kaur Rs. 14,400/- iii) For the death of Prem Kumari @ Prem Kaur Rs. 17,800/- Dissatisfied with the award the appellants in appeals have contended that the amounts awarded are grossly inadequate. Reliance is placed on Lata Wadhwa and others v. State of Bihar and others, 2001 8 SCC 197 wherein the apex court has observed as under :- "10. So far as the deceased housewives are concerned, in the absence of any data and as the housewives were not earning any income, attempt has been made to determine the compensation on the basis of services rendered by them to the house. On the basis of the age group of the housewives, appropriate multiplier has been applied, but the estimation of the value of services rendered to the house by the housewives, which has been arrived at Rs. 12,000 per annum in cases of some and Rs. 10,000 for others, appears to us to be grossly low. It is true that the claimants, who ought to have given data for determination of compensation, did not assist in any manner by providing the data for estimating the value of services rendered by such housewives. But even in the absence of such data and taking into consideration the multifarious services rendered by the housewives for managing the entire family, even on a modest estimation, should be Rs. 3000 per month and Rs. 36,000 per annum. This would apply to all those housewives between the age group of 34 to 59 and as such who were active in life. The compensation awarded therefore, should be recalculated, taking the value of services rendered per annum to be Rs. 36,000 and thereafter applying the multiplier, as has been applied already, and so far as the conventional amount is concerned, the same should be Rs. 50,000 instead of Rs. 25,000 given under the Report. So far as the elderly ladies are concerned, in the age group of 62 to 72, the value of services rendered has been taken at Rs. 10,000 per annum and the multiplier applied is eight. Though, the multiplier is correct, but the values of services rendered at Rs. 10,000 per annum, cannot be held to be just and, we, therefore, enhance the same to Rs. 20,000 per annum. In their case, therefore, the total amount of compensation should be redetermined, taking the value of services rendered at Rs. 20,000 per annum and then after applying the multiplier, as already applied and thereafter, adding Rs. 50,000 towards the conventional figure.";