' This is a suit for recovery of Rs,12,00,000 under the Fatal Accidents Act, 1855 in relation to the death of deceased Saleem Umer aged about 35 years who died on account of traffic accident on 6-8- 1988 within the jurisdiction of Gulzar-e-Hijri Police Station.
2. The plaintiff is the father of the deceased; Defendant No, 1 was the owner of the unfortunate Bus bearing No, 876-748 while defendant No, 2 was driving the said bus on the material day: It has been pleaded that defendant No, 2 while driving the bus in a rash and negligent manner on the Super Highway at a place near Gulshan-e-Maynar dashed the car bearing No, 149712 from wrong side and caused the death of the deceased who died at the spot. It is stated that the death of the deceased was caused on account of actionable wrong, wrongful act, negligence, default, actionable malfeasance, misfeasance and non-feasance as well as lack of prudence and foresightedness of defendant No,
2. It is stated that the deceased was keeping very good health and physique at the time of the accident and he was a supporting hand for the plaintiff who is aged about 61 years. It is expected that the deceased could have lived up to the age of 75 years.
He was an Electronics Engineer possessing a degree of B.E. (Electronics) and working as Factory Manager in Indus Steel Pipes Limited under the management of P.I.D.C. At Kotri. He was promoted to the rank of Deputy Chief Engineer and was earning Rs,9,570 per month. He was likely to get frequent promotions in near future to the rank of Chief Engineer and could have earned more than Rs,10,000 per month. Besides the salary he was availing of medical and transport facilities which in monetary terms could be valued between Rs,1,000 to Rs,2,000 per month. The plaintiff has also claimed a sum of Rs,10,000 on account of funeral expenses.
3. The defendants could not be served with the summons in the ordinary manner, therefore, they were served with the summons of the suit by way of substituted service i,e, by publication in Daily "Mashriq", affixation on the Court notice board and affixation on the last known address of the defendants. The service was held good by the Additional Registrar and the suit was set down for final disposal.
' In support of his case the plaintiff has filed his own affidavit-inevidence and the affidavits of P.W.
Zulfiqar All and Asif Ali. Additionally P.W. Abdul Hafeez working as Head Constable Gulzar-e-Hijri Police Station was examined to produce attested photo copy of the F.I.R. No, 130 of 1988 dated 6-8- 1988 in relation to the death of the deceased. This witness also produced attested copy of an order passed by A.C.M. Court, No, X, Karachi (East) directing the release of the bus involved in this crime on Superdginama to its owner after proper verification, undertaking executed by defendant No, 1, sketch of the place of incident as well as the report of the Motor Vehicle Inspector, Karachi in respect of the bus as well as the motor-car.
4. Mr. Nasir Maqsood, learned counsel appearing for the plaintiff has taken me through the evidence on record in his evidence plaintiff Umeruddin presently aged about 65 years has verified the contents of the plaint on oath and reiterated that the death of his deceased son occurred on account of collision with the bus in question driven by defendant No, 2 in a rash and negligent manner near Gulshan-e-Maymar which hit the car of the deceased from wrong side culminating into the death of deceased Saleem Umer as well as his wife Rukhsana Saleem, step-daughter Imrana and step-son Adeel while the car was also completely damaged. The plaintiff has testified that the death of the deceased was caused by actionable wrong, wrongful act, negligence, default, lack of prudence and foresightedness on the part of defendant No, 2 who acted as servant of defendant No, 1 with the result that both the defendants are jointly and severally liable to pay compensation to him.
' A part from this evidence, there is evidence of P.W. Zulfiqar Ali Bhatti, who is an eye-witness of the incident. He has corroborated the plaintiff's evidence in all material particulars as regards unnatural death of the deceased.
' The death of the deceased is also proved by the Death Certificate issued by Zonal Municipal Committee, Karachi (Central) Exh. 2/2 produced by the plaintiff alongwith his affidavit-in-evidence.
Since the evidence on record has neither been rebutted nor disputed, by implication of law, it is deemed to have been accepted and prima facie there is no reason to dispute and discard the same. It would, therefore, be safe to conclude that deceased Saleem Umar died an unnatural death as a result of a rash and negligent act on the part of the defendant No, 2 who drove the bus in question belonging to defendant No, 1.
5. As regards the average earnings of the deceased, the plaintiff in his evidence has stated that he was earning Rs,9,570 per month and was likely to get promotions in near future and become a Chief Engineer and earn more than Rs,10,000 per month. He has added that Saleem Umer was availing of medical and transport facilities and was having allowances in this regard which in monetary terms could be valued at Rs,1,000 to Rs,2,000 per month. Additionally the plaintiff has claimed Rs,10,000 on account of funeral expenses of the deceased. In support of his statement, the plaintiff has produced original appointment letter in favour of the deceased Exh. 2/6 dated 26-5- 1981 appointing him as Deputy Chief Engineer, Shandad Kot Textile Mills at a monthly salary of Rs,2,200 with annual increment due on first of January every year in addition to medical facilities for self, his wife and his dependant children. P.W. Asif Ali, Administrative Officer, P.I.D.C., Karachi has also been examined on oath who has stated that deceased Saleem Umer was very enterprising and working as Factory Manager in Indus Steel Pipes Limited, a project of P.I.D.C. And receiving monthly salary of Rs,9,570. He has added that the deceased could have been promoted and his pay scale could also have been revised as per prevailing increment scales. He has stated that had he not died untimely he could have started getting salary of Rs,14,000 per month approximately.
The witness has produced a certificate issued by S. Fakhr-e-Alam on behalf of General Manager of the Company certifying that the last pay drawn by the deceased was Rs,9,570 per month inclusive of house rent allowance, conveyance allowance and medical allowance.
6. It has been brought on record that the plaintiff was aged about 61 years on the date of filing of the suit and 65 years old on the date of his evidence on 11-8-1992. In the recent cases decided by this Court life expectancy in Pakistan has been determined to be 70 years. Thus, the plaintiff would be entitled to depend upon the earnings of the deceased son for a period of nine years. Taking into consideration the monthly income of the deceased at Rs,9,570 and excluding his personal expenses at the rate of 1/3rd of his income he would have been left with savings of Rs,6,380 per month. His emoluments for a period of first five year could thus be reckoned at Rs,3,06,240.
Accepting that he would have risen to the rank of Chief Engineer in view of his proficiency and promising nature as deposed by the Administrative Officer P.W. Asif Ali it can be safely assumed that he would have earned monthly emoluments of Rs,14,000 and excluding his personal expenses at the rate of Rs,4,500 per month, he would have saved a sum of Rs,9,500 per month. Calculating emoluments at this rate for a period of next five years, the plaintiff would be entitled to a further sum of Rs,5,70,000. Thus the grand total would come to Rs,8,76,240. In the circumstances of the case I am not inclined to award the funeral expenses to the tune of Rs,10,000 which would even otherwise be borne by the legal heirs. Likewise the claim on account of medical expenses at the rate of Rs,2,000 per month is also not admissible in view of the medical allowance payable to the deceased which is a part of the salary as is evident from the certificate Exh. 2/7 produced by the plaintiff himself. Even otherwise there is no convincing and supporting evidence to indicate that the - deceased was entitled to medical expenses at the rate of Rs,2,000 per month as. Claimed.
7. In view of what has been stated above, I would decree the suit for a sum of Rs,8,76,240 with costs and interest at the rate of 14% per annum from the date of suit till realization.