The Hindu Business Line : Loss of love and affection, Rs 25,000

ON APRIL 20, the Madras High Court decided a bunch of appeals arising from an accident that occurred on December 19, 1994. A 38-year-old doctor, employed as a part-time Senior Registrar in anaesthetics in the Northern and Yorkshire Regional Health Authority, died when a State transport bus hit the car in which she was travelling to Tiruchendur.

From the text of the judgment, one gathers that she drew as salary £1790, and also earned £1000 through private consultancy. The initial claim was for Rs 6 crore, though it came down to Rs 3 crore. The award of the tribunal was Rs 72,81,960; for the balance Rs 2,27,18,040, the heirs of the deceased doctor had approached the High Court.

Questions that came up for discussion included whether a bystander can estimate the speed of vehicles, and whether the car wheel separated after the impact or earlier. The bus driver had averred that the car suffered a tyre burst and then hit a stationary bus before falling into a canal.

"If the tyre had burst and got removed from the wheel, the disc of the wheel could have made some mark on the tar road and if that is so, the same should have definitely been noted in the observation mahazar," said the court. No, it spoke of the tyre mark of the bus to an extent of 20 feet, which clearly proved that the bus driver had driven the bus at high speed, reasoned Justices P. Sathasivam and S. K. Krishnan.

On the amount of compensation, there were intense arguments on what should be the multiplier, and whether promotion prospects should be considered. The court cited the Patricia Jean Mahajan case where the apex court had highlighted the need to consider the state of the economy in compensation computation.

The High Court revised the compensation to Rs 87,50,000 as follows: Pecuniary loss, Rs 87,00,000; transport charges, Rs 1,000; funeral expenses, Rs 10,000; loss of love and affection to the minor children, Rs 25,000; and loss of consortium to husband, Rs 14,000.

Quite wryly one remembers this Dickens quote from The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit: "With affection beaming in one eye and calculation shining out of the other."

PDI for litigation

BAJAJ Auto was drawn into the Mumbai tribunal recently by the Commissioner of Central Excise, Aurangabad. At stake was a duty demand for more than Rs 4 crore, backed by the Department's contention that pre-delivery inspection (PDI) charges should be included in the assessable value (AV) of vehicles. What the taxman possibly relied upon was Circular No. 643/34/2002-CX dated July 1, 2002, that cost of after-sales service and PDI incurred by the dealer during the warranty period should be included in the AV.

From the text of the tribunal's order in a recent issue of Excise Law Times, one learns that Bajaj argued that the Central Board of Excise and Customs in its subsequent circular "No. 680/71/2002-CX dated December 10, 2002" had clarified that PDI charges are not to be included in the AV.

On this, the tribunal said: "Where the Department's own clarifications are against the appeals filed by the Department, such appeals should be withdrawn promptly, so that the Tribunal's time is better utilised in disposing of other substantive appeals."

However, a search for the cited circular in www.cbec.gov.in shows a communiqué about `woven textile fabrics'. Circular No. 681/ 72 /2002-CX dated December 12, 2002, is on the subject in dispute, though; and it shows a list of more than dozen PDI appeals.

Perhaps a PDI is required when delivering legal documents too!

LawLane@TheHindu.co.in

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