K. Kannan, J.@mdashThe appeal is for enhancement of compensation for death of a male aged 44 years. The accident took place on
31.10.1990. The claimants were widow and two sons. Against the claim made on the basis that the deceased was earning Rs. 14,000/- per
month, the tribunal assessed the income at Rs. 4,000/- per month and determined a compensation of Rs. 4,80,000/-.
2. The deceased was said to be a proprietor of M/s. Hira Filters and M/s. Precision Engineering Works. The evidence of PW-1 and PW-3 was
that on account of his death the other factory namely M/s. Precision Engineering Works which was dependent on M/s. Hira Filters was closed
down. The copy of profits earned by M/s. Hira Filters in the year 1990 was produced to assign Mark A. His son PW-3 admitted that his father
has raised a loan from Himachal Pradesh Financial Corporation on 16.1.1993. He received a letter from HMT Pinjore that he has not supplied the
materials. Several letters and communications were produced to show that the business had closed on account of death of the father. In a case
where the deceased was a business man having engineering works I will take the average income to be Rs. 10,000/- per month and make a
provision for prospect of increase as well. I re-work the compensation by applying the principles relating to provision for increase and also provide
for loss of consortium and loss of love and affection in the manner that are being done in some of the recent cases of the Supreme Court. The
various heads of compensation are tabulated as under:-
The total compensation payable shall be Rs. 18,53,000/-. The amount shall be distributed amongst the claimants equally. The amount in excess of
what has already been granted by the Tribunal shall attract interest at the rate of 9% per annum. In this case the claimants had even made a
proposal for settlement which is even less than what this Court has determined but if only the Insurance Company had moved towards the
negotiating table for a reasonable settlement there would have been no need for forcing an adjudicatory process an adversarial approach. The
conduct of the insurer was unfortunate and wholly un-cooperative.
2. The award is modified and the appeal is allowed and compensation is enhanced as above with costs assessed at Rs. 25,000/-.
