FAO-3645 45-2024 (O&M) -1- IN THE HIG HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HA D v. Nitin Kumar Kumar and others
Case Details
FAO-3645 45-2024 (O&M) -1- IN THE HIG HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HA D HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH 121 1. FAO-3645-2024 (O&M) Sunita and o and others .…Appellants Versus Nitin Kumar Kumar and others ....Respondents 2. FAO-4529-2024 (O&M) Cholamandla mandlam MS General Insurance Comp Company Ltd. .…Appellant Versus Sunita and o and others ....Respondents Date of Decision: 09.12.2025 Date o CORAM: H M: HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE NIDH NIDHI GUPTA Present: - Mr. Prashant Singh Chauhan, w Mr. Aman Yadav, Advocate for the appellant-claimants (in F for claimant-respondents No. 1 han, with ts (in FAO-3645-2024) and No. 1 to 4 (in FAO-4529-2024).
Legal Reasoning
Mr. Hritik Sharma, Advocate fo Mr. Vishal Aggarwal, Advocate for the appellant-Insurance Co. for respondent No. 3-Insurance cate for vocate e Co. (in FAO-4529-2024) and rance Co. (in FAO-3645-2024). NIDHI GUP I GUPTA, J. FAO-3645 3645-2024 (O&M) By way of filing the present ap ants sent appeal, the appellant-claimants seek enhanc nhancement of the compensation amo rded n amount of ₹47,95,000/- awarded by the learn learned Motor Accident Claims Tri ‘the s Tribunal, Rewari (for short-‘the learned Tr d Tribunal) vide Award dated dated 23.05.2024, passed in in MACP/229/2 /229/2022 filed under Section 166 Act, 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. The The 04 claimants are the: i) 35-year- s -old widow; ii) two minor sons RISHU KATARIA 2025.12.10 18:40 I attest to the accuracy and authenticity of this order/judgment. FAO-3645 45-2024 (O&M) -2- of the decea deceased aged around 15 and 13 ye years respectively; and iii) 74- year-old mot mother of deceased-Pardeep @ Prad ld at @ Pradeep, who was 38 years old at the time of a e of accident. FAO-4529 4529-2024 (O&M) The appellant-Insurance Comp tant Company has preferred the instant appeal again against the impugned Award dated rned dated 23.05.2024 by the learned Tribunal, wh al, whereby compensation to the tune rded e tune of ₹47,95,000/- was awarded to responden ondents No. 1 to 4/claimants. 1. By this common order, both t both the aforementioned 02 cross- appeals are ls are bring disposed of as, both app mon appeals emanate from common Award date dated 23.05.2024; and pertain to ated tain to the same accident dated 21.02.2022; 2022; and parties, facts and issues inv are es involved in both the appeals are same. For br For brevity, the facts are being extract eing extracted from, and parties are being referred to as d to as per their status in FAO-3645- -2024 filed by the claimants. 2. Brief facts of the case are that re that the learned Tribunal on the basis of pl of pleadings and evidence adduce that dduced before it concluded that deceased-Pa Pardeep @ Pradeep, had died due in due to injuries suffered by him in a motor veh or vehicular accident that took place o rash place on 21.02.2022 due to the rash and negligen gligent driving of Scorpio No. HR-66 rred 66-A-3444 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the off the offending vehicle’) by respondent d by ndent No.1-Nitin Kumar; owned by respondent N dent No. 2-Deepak; and insured by ance ed by respondent No. 3-Insurance Company. Ld. Tribunal awarded compen with ompensation as above along with interest @ t @ 7% per annum from the date of till date of filing the claim petition till actual realiz realization. Respondents No. 1 to 3 the 1 to 3 were held liable to pay the RISHU KATARIA 2025.12.10 18:40 I attest to the accuracy and authenticity of this order/judgment. FAO-3645 45-2024 (O&M) -3- amount of t of compensation jointly and of and severally. The amount of compensatio nsation is apportioned amongst the cla the claimants as under:- Smt. Sunita widow 1. Sm Himanshu and Shivam 2.Him minor sons of the deceased mino 3.Sm Smt. Savitri, mother 35% 20% eac 0% each 25% 3. Learned counsel for the the appellant-claimants eeks seeks enhancemen cement of compensation by submitt had bmitting that learned Tribunal had assessed the ed the income of the deceased on the on the lower side as only ₹25,000/- per month. I . It is submitted that it was the s the clear and proven case of the claimants th nts that the deceased was doing da so a ing dairy farming and was also a transporter; orter; and was earning approxima nth. roximately ₹35,000/- per month. However, th ver, the learned Tribunal had wrong the wrongly taken the income of the deceased ed as only ₹25,000/- per mont eeks month. Learned counsel seeks enhancemen cement of compensation also on the g as n the ground that only ₹40,000/- as filial consor consortium has been granted by the that y the Tribunal. It is submitted that each of the of the claimants is entitled to con t is to consortium of ₹40,000/-. It is accordingly ingly prayed that the impugned A the ned Award be modified and the compensatio nsation granted to the appellants be en s be enhanced. 4. Per Contra, learned counsel fo ance sel for respondent No. 3-Insurance Company (appellant in FAO-4529-2024 2024) vehemently opposes the the submissions ssions of ld. counsel for the claimant e of imants and submits that income of the deceased eceased has been taken by the Trib e at e Tribunal on the higher side at ₹25,000/- pe per month. It is contended that th the the deceased was not doing the business of s ss of selling the milk as alleged. Furt ome d. Furthermore, no proof of income of the decea deceased was produced by the clai rned e claimants. As such, the learned Tribunal wa al was in patent error in assessing th d at sing the income of the deceased at RISHU KATARIA 2025.12.10 18:40 I attest to the accuracy and authenticity of this order/judgment. FAO-3645 45-2024 (O&M) -4- ₹25,000/- pe per month. It is accordingly pray ard y prayed that the impugned Award may be mod e modified as above. No other argument is raised on ed on behalf of the parties. I have heard learned counsel e in unsel and perused the case file in 5. 6. detail. 7. It has been contended on beha l for n behalf of the learned counsel for respondent N dent No. 3-Insurance Company, that has y, that income of the deceased has been assesse ssessed on the higher side at ₹25,000 ence 25,000/- per month as no evidence was adduced duced by the claimants in this regard. rned egard. The said argument of learned counsel for r el for respondent No. 3-Insurance Com t. A e Company is factually incorrect. A perusal of th l of the record shows that the claim ient claimants have adduced sufficient evidence to ce to prove that the deceased was su in a was supplying milk in a Dairy in a nearby villa village. To prove the income of had e of the deceased, claimants had examined PW ned PW-3 Kanha Singh, who was run the as running the Milk Society by the name ‘Dhar haran Ki Dhani’. PW-3 had brough rought on record certificate Ex. P-5 issued by FS by FSSAI in the name of Kanha Sin d of ha Singh; copy of the PAN Card of the Society ciety ‘Dharan Ki Dhani’ as Ex. P- -6; and other record Ex. P-7 to 7 to P-11 from from which it was established that larly that the deceased was regularly supplying m ing milk to the said Society. Ex. P of Ex. P-7 is the copy of Register of Record, whe , wherein, name of the deceased is m Ex. ed is mentioned at serial No. 3. Ex. P-8 is the the record of purchase of milk f hich milk from the deceased in which percentage o tage of FAT and percentage of SNF ned SNF in the milk is also mentioned including to ing total cost/value of milk. Ex. P Ex. P-9 and P-10 are the similar documents f ents for different periods of time; wh hine ; whereas Ex. P-11 is the machine generated sl ted slip. Thus, the claimants had un the had unequivocally proved that the RISHU KATARIA 2025.12.10 18:40 I attest to the accuracy and authenticity of this order/judgment. FAO-3645 45-2024 (O&M) -5- deceased wa ed was a milk vendor. However, the c ring r, the claimants have failed to bring any record t cord that the deceased was a transpor rned ansporter. Accordingly, the learned Tribunal had al had rightly taken the income of t per e of the deceased at ₹25,000/- per month. Thus Thus, arguments of ld. Counsel fo t of nsel for both parties in respect of income of th e of the deceased, are rejected. 8. Further, age of the deceased w as sed was determined as 38 years as mentioned in ned in Postmortem Report Ex. P-1. A had 1. Accordingly, the Tribunal had correctly ma made an addition of 40% towards f ctly ards future prospects; and correctly applied the m d the multiplier 15. Further, as there w rned there were 04 claimants, the learned Tribunal has al has correctly made deduction of 1/ of 1/4th towards personal expenses. However, u ver, under the Conventional Heads had Heads, the learned Tribunal had awarded onl ed only ₹40,000/- towards filial cons to 3 l consortium. Claimants No. 1 to 3 being widow widow and minor children of the d d to the deceased are also entitled to compensatio nsation of ₹40,000/- each. The learne learned Tribunal had also correctly awarded a su ed a sum of ₹15,000/- towards loss of ards oss of estate; and ₹15,000/- towards funeral exp l expenses and transportation tion charges. Accordingly, the the compensatio nsation awarded to the appellant/clai 4 is nt/claimants (in FAO-3645-2024 is re-assessed a essed as under:- Details e prospects Income Future pros Total Less 1/4th personal ex deceased) Net th (deducted for nal expenses of the Loss of dep (26250 x 12 of dependency 0 x 12x 15) RISHU KATARIA 2025.12.10 18:40 I attest to the accuracy and authenticity of this order/judgment. Before Tribunal per ₹25,000/- per 40% ₹35,000/- ₹8,750/- the Revised t compensation ₹25,000/- per month 40% ₹35,000/- ₹8,750/- ₹26,250 ₹26,250/- ₹47,25,000/- ₹47,25,000/- FAO-3645 45-2024 (O&M) -6- Loss of con of consortium ₹40,000/- ral expenses of Estate compensation Funeral exp Loss of Esta Total comp Interest ed Revised ensation compensat to the claimants paid to the amount of to be ₹15,000/- ₹15,000/- ₹47,95,000/- nnum 7% per annum ₹48,75,000- ₹ ₹40,000/- x 3 = ₹1,20,000/- to (₹40,000/- each claimants No. 1 to 3) ₹15,000/- ₹15,000/- ₹48,75,000/- 7% per annum ₹47,95,000 = ₹80,000/–. 9. In view of the above discussion ssion, FAO-3645-2024, filed by the appellant-clai claimants stands partly allowed in the above terms; whereas connected ap ted appeal bearing FAO-4529-2024, fil filed by the appellant-Insurance Company stan ny stands dismissed. 10. Pending application(s) (in both also in both appeals), if any, shall also stand dispose
Decision
disposed of. 11. A photocopy of this order be ther der be placed on the file of other connected ca cted case. 2025 09.12.2025 rishu ( NIDHI GUPTA ) JUDGE Whether speaking/reasoned Yes/No Whether Reportable Yes/No RISHU KATARIA 2025.12.10 18:40 I attest to the accuracy and authenticity of this order/judgment.