Punjab and Haryana High Court: Ritu Bahri, J. allowed the petition and modified the award according to the prevalent rate in accordance with the decision by the Supreme Court.
An appeal was made by the Claimant-Appellants to seek the enhancement of compensation awarded by Motor Accident Claim Tribunal on the account of the death of Ashok Kumar in a motor accident.
The facts of the case were that the Ashok Kumar had died in a road accident by the car being driven by its driver rashly and negligently and at high speed and struck Ashok Kumar while he was returning with his brother, due to which he fell down and sustained serious injuries on his body. Soon he died. The claimant-appellant thus filed a claim petition before the tribunal. The tribunal passed an order where the compensation was awarded along with the interest at 7.5% per annum. Feeling dissatisfied with the impugned award, the present appeal was preferred.
The court opined that to meet the ends of justice the compensation had to be assessed keeping in view the minimum wages prevalent in Haryana as passed by Hon’ble Supreme Court in Magma General Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Nanu Ram, Civil Appeal No. 9581 of 2018. Thus, the amount was modified with the interest at 9% per annum. [Usha v. Rajesh Arora, 2019 SCC OnLine P&H 1415, decided on 13-08-2019]
