Bibi Masuma And Ors vs Manoj Ray And Ors

$~10
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
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% Date of decision: 06 July 2026

+ MAC.APP. 319/2021
BIBI MASUMA AND ORS .....Appellant
Through: Ms. Aruna Mehta, Mr. Lakshay
Mehta, Advocates.

versus

MANOJ RAY AND ORS .....Respondents
Through: Mr. Himanshu Bhushan, Ms. Shagun
Srivastava, Advocates for
Respondent no.3 (Insurance
Company).

CORAM:
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ANISH DAYAL
JUDGMENT

ANISH DAYAL, J (ORAL)
1. This appeal has been filed seeking enhancement of compensation
awarded by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Rohini Courts, Delhi
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(‘ MACT /Tribunal ’) vide impugned award dated 30 September 2020 in
MACT No.6920/2016 awarding Rs.19,30,000/- along with interest at the rate
of 9% per annum to LRs of deceased (hereinafter, ‘ claimants ’).
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2. The accident occurred on 10 December 2014 at 2:30 p.m. near
Narpat Ganj, Thana Chowk, Bihar when one, Mohd. Meenaj (hereinafter,
‘ deceased ’) who was travelling on a motorcycle, along with his mother, was
hit by a truck bearing registration no. BR-01-GC-4818 (hereinafter,
Signature Not Verified
MAC.APP. 319/2021 Page 1 of 8

Digitally Signed By:RAHUL
KUMAR CHOUDHARY
Signing Date:10.07.2026
16:17:51

‘ offending vehicle ’) being driven rashly and negligently from behind. Due
to the impact of the accident, deceased fell down on the road and his head
was crushed under the front wheels of the offending vehicle, resulting in his
death.
3. Ms. Aruna Mehta , counsel for appellants/claimants, seeks
enhancement on the sole ground that, loss of dependency was calculated on
the basis of minimum wages of an unskilled worker, whereas, deceased was
a skilled mason, as evident from the testimony of his wife/ Bibi Masuma
( PW-1 ) and testimony of his co-worker/ Jamrul ( PW-3 ).
4. To the contrary, Mr. Himanshu Bushan , counsel for respondent
no.3/Insurance Company, points out that the assessment done by MACT in
paragraph nos.15 to 17 of the impugned award, bears out that the testimonies
were not corroborative and these witnesses had not been able to withstand
their statements in the cross-examination.
5. For this purpose, it is important to examine the testimony of PW-1 .
She stated that the deceased had been learning the work of a mason from his
father since childhood and eventually became an expert mason and used to
repair houses, as well as, take contracts for construction of houses either on
daily basis or on contract basis. She further stated the deceased had been
working in this profession for about 15 years and was known for his
expertise. He charged a fee of about Rs.800/- per day and used to support the
household expenditure to the tune of Rs.16,000/- per month. She further
stated that the deceased wanted to expand his business by doing construction
of old houses on floor-wise basis, which had been demolished, and was
aspirational about increase in his income.
Signature Not Verified
MAC.APP. 319/2021 Page 2 of 8

Digitally Signed By:RAHUL
KUMAR CHOUDHARY
Signing Date:10.07.2026
16:17:51

6. In cross-examination conducted by respondent no.3/Insurance
Company, she stated that she does not have any documentary proof since her
husband had spent his entire income and did not have any savings. She
further stated that he did not have any certificate of mason and was not
maintaining any account of monthly expenditure. Mr. Bhushan , points out
that PW-1 further stated that she was not aware of the place of working of
her deceased husband.
7. In this regard, the testimony of deceased’s co-worker/ Jamrul ( PW-3 )
is also important. He stated that he had been working as a mason in Delhi for
the last 10 years and used to repair and construct houses on a daily basis or
on contract basis. He knew the deceased and his father very well, since both
of them were expert masons, however, the father had been doing less work
due to his old age. He stated that he used to take the services of deceased,
whenever he received a bulk order and there was a quid pro quo between
them on that account.
8. In cross-examination conducted by respondent no.3/Insurance
Company, he stated that he does not have any documentary proof of his own
income as he does not have any savings and was unable to deposit any
amount in his bank account. As regards the premises he had been working
together with the deceased, he volunteered and provided details of three
properties.
9. In the opinion of this Court, there is enough corroboration in the
testimonies of PW-1 and PW-3 . Not only, the deceased’s background of
being an expert mason has been clearly spelled out in testimonies of both
PW-1 and PW-3 , but also the status of being a co-worker with PW-3 , along
with the address of properties where they worked together.
Signature Not Verified
MAC.APP. 319/2021 Page 3 of 8

Digitally Signed By:RAHUL
KUMAR CHOUDHARY
Signing Date:10.07.2026
16:17:51

10. The objection raised by Mr. Bhushan that there was no record of
earnings and that the wife of deceased had no idea, as to where her husband
was working, are unfortunately realities of such economic strata of society,
where money is earned in cash for daily work and is subsequently spent, with
hardly any savings accruing to them. It is not uncommon that families of this
strata do not save money in bank accounts, but manage their affairs in cash,
considering that there is hardly a margin of savings.
11. The issues of assessment of income in cases of categorical evidence
not being provided, has been considered by this Court in Savita & Ors. v.
National Insurance Company Ltd. 2026:DHC:3626 wherein, this Court
culled principles for assessment of minimum wages. Noting scenarios where
there is no documentary proof of income in informal sector and oral
testimony of family members has been provided, minimum wages should be
used as a yardstick and the Courts should not be constrained to consider
wages from the lowest tier. Relevant paragraphs of the said decision are
extracted as under:
“ Guideposts
30. Principles which may be culled out from these cases
cited above, and be used as guidepost for assessment of
benchmark income, can be summarised as under:
A. Lack of documentary proof
i. In the informal sector, it may not always be
possible to produce documentary proof of
employment and payment of wages, which are
usually paid in cash.
ii. Where there is lack of documentary proof to
support that the victim was working in Delhi,
reliance may be placed on facts and circumstances
of the case to determine whether, the victim was
residing in Delhi on the date of accident, in
conjunction with documents such as driver’s
Signature Not Verified
MAC.APP. 319/2021 Page 4 of 8

Digitally Signed By:RAHUL
KUMAR CHOUDHARY
Signing Date:10.07.2026
16:17:51

license, voter ID card, etc. Minimum wages of
place of work will be then considered.
iii. If documentary proof has not been filed, the
Court can use the minimum wage benchmark of an
appropriate category i.e., unskilled, skilled,
matriculate, etc., as a benchmark for assessment,
but not be constrained to grant the lowest tier.
B. Oral testimony of family members, employers
i. Assessment of income can also be done on the
statement of the immediate legal heir of deceased,
i.e., wife, father, or immediate family member,
along with a statement of the employer, if any.
Testimonies of the above-mentioned persons
should be consistent and there should be an
unsuccessful rebuttal by the Insurance Company
or the contesting party.
ii. If the testimonies are not reliable, the Court can
use the minimum wage benchmark of an
appropriate category i.e., unskilled, skilled,
matriculate, etc., as a benchmark for assessment,
but not be constrained to grant the lowest tier.
C. Proof of employment
i. If documents in support of employment inter alia,
Salary/Wage Certificate, Income Tax Returns
(‘ITRs’) have been filed, same shall be considered.
ii. In the absence of such proof, assessment done
by the Court has to be based on some intelligent
guesswork and may not be restricted to the
minimum wage parameter after taking into
account a holistic analysis of the evidence on
record. For example, place of employment,
testimony of co-workers, or any other person who
testifies in favour of the injured/deceased
employee.
iii. The entire assessment is ultimately imbued with
an element of approximation and guesswork, as
part of the inquiry proceedings and not on
exactitude.
iv. Reliance may be placed on State specific
legislations, as well as Minimum Wage
Signature Not Verified
MAC.APP. 319/2021 Page 5 of 8

Digitally Signed By:RAHUL
KUMAR CHOUDHARY
Signing Date:10.07.2026
16:17:51

Notifications to lean on for support, in order to
determine what qualifies as a skilled worker and
an unskilled worker, with respect to the vocation
of the victim.
D. Age, occupation and educational background
of the victim
i. In cases where the victim was a student and the
evidence on record suggests that the victim would
have engaged in employment after completing
education, had the accident not taken place; the
Courts must consider the educational background
keeping in view the missed future opportunities.
ii. Reliance to be placed on documents and
testimonies indicating the prior educational
background of the victim, if no proof has been
placed with regards to the employment details.
E. Standard of living of deceased persons
i. When a claim petition has been filed by the
surviving dependents of a deceased, where the
deceased was the breadwinner of the family,
Courts must attempt to ascertain the benchmark
income keeping in view the void left by the
breadwinner’s death and income must be
determined keeping in view the standard of living
enjoyed by the family before the accident took
place. While monetary compensation is a means to
filing the financial hole left by the deceased, an
estimate may be required to be done in order to
support the remaining family members.
31. Needless to say, these are merely guidepost,
illustrative and not exhaustive. However, there is no
denying that individual cases would turn on its own
peculiar facts. ”
(emphasis added)

12. In light of the observations of this Court, the appellant’s plea for
enhancement of compensation is accepted. Minimum wages for a skilled
worker in Delhi as on the date of accident, will be taken at Rs.10,478 /-.
Signature Not Verified
MAC.APP. 319/2021 Page 6 of 8

Digitally Signed By:RAHUL
KUMAR CHOUDHARY
Signing Date:10.07.2026
16:17:51

13. Accordingly, revised computation is as under:
Heads Awarded by the
Tribunal
Awarded by this
Court
S.
No.
1 Income of deceased (A) Rs. 8,632/- Rs. 10,478/-
2 Add: Future Prospects (B) Rs. 3,452.8/- Rs. 4,191.2/-
3 Less: Personal expenses of
deceased (C)
Rs. 3,021.2/-

Rs. 3,667.3/-

4 Loss of dependency (A+B)-C=D Rs. 9,063.6/- Rs. 11,002/-
5 Annual loss of dependency
(Dx12) = (E)
Rs. 1,08,763.2/- Rs. 1,32,024/-
6 Multiplier (F) 16 16
7 Total loss of dependency (E x
F)= (G)
Rs. 17,40,200/-
(rounded off)
Rs. 21,12,384/-
8 Compensation for loss of
consortium (H)
Rs. 1,60,000/- Rs. 1,60,000/-
9 Compensation for loss of estate
(I)
Rs. 15,000/- Rs. 15,000/-
10 Compensation towards funeral
expenses (J)
Rs. 15,000/- Rs. 15,000/-
Rs. 19,30,000/-
(rounded off)
11 Total compensation
(G+H+I+J) =K
Rs. 23,02,400/-
(rounded off)
12 Rate of Interest Awarded 9% 9%

Directions
14. For aforesaid reasons, compensation has been enhanced by Rs.
3,72,400/- [‘ enhanced amount ’].
15. Enhanced amount along with 9% interest per annum from the date of
filing the petition shall be deposited by respondent no.3/Insurance Company
before the MACT within a period of four weeks. It is directed that a lump
sum amount of Rs.1,00,000/- shall be released to wife of deceased/ Bibi
Masuma from the deposit of enhanced amount within a period of two weeks
Signature Not Verified
MAC.APP. 319/2021 Page 7 of 8

Digitally Signed By:RAHUL
KUMAR CHOUDHARY
Signing Date:10.07.2026
16:17:51

thereafter. Remaining enhanced amount, along with accrued interest, shall
be kept in Fixed Deposit Receipts ( FDRs ) of Rs.25,000/- each for periods of
3 month, 6 months, 9 months and so on, in succession as maybe calculated.
Interest accruing on said FDRs shall be credited to the designated Savings
Bank Account of appellants/claimants. The amount of FDRs on maturity
would be released to the Savings Bank Account of appellants/claimants upon
due verification.
16. Accordingly, the appeal is disposed of in the above terms.
17. Pending applications, if any, are rendered infructuous.
18. Copy of this judgment be sent to the concerned MACT.
19. Copy of this judgment be sent to the concerned bank for information
and compliance.
20. Judgment be uploaded on the website of this Court.


(ANISH DAYAL)
JUDGE
JULY 6, 2026/ ak/ sp
Signature Not Verified
MAC.APP. 319/2021 Page 8 of 8

Digitally Signed By:RAHUL
KUMAR CHOUDHARY
Signing Date:10.07.2026
16:17:51