ASARI SITABEN MAGANBHAI WD/O ASARI MAGANBHAI ADHELAJI vs ICICI LOMBARD GEN INSURANCE COMPANY
- Court
- Gujarat High Court
C/FA/721/2022 JUDGMENT DATED: 19/10/2026
(GJHC240840192019)
IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/FIRST APPEAL NO. 721 of 2022
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ASARI SITABEN MAGANBHAI WD/O ASARI MAGANBHAI ADHELAJI &
ORS.
Versus
ICICI LOMBARD GEN INSURANCE COMPANY & ORS.
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Appearance:
MR JIGAR G GADHAVI(5613) for the Appellant(s) No. 1,2,3,4
MR DHAIRYAWAN D BHATT(11817) for the Defendant(s) No. 1
RULE SERVED for the Defendant(s) No. 2,4,5
UNSERVED EXPIRED (R) for the Defendant(s) No. 3
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CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE J. C. DOSHI
Date : 19/10/2026
JUDGMENT
1. The present First Appeal, under Section 173 of Motor
Vehicles Act, 1988, is preferred by the appellants – original
claimants being aggrieved and dissatisfied with the judgment
and award dated 26.7.2019 passed by the Motor Accident Claims
Tribunal, Himmatnagar in Motor Accident Claim Petition No.737
of 2008.
2. Since the factual aspects of the case involving the
vehicle in the road accident and the liability of the owner as
well as the insurer are not disputed by the Insurance
Company, to streamline the consideration of the present
appeal, I have adopted approach that avoids burdening the
judgment with unnecessary narration, since the facts are
already detailed in the record and there is no practical
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purpose in restating the same. Likewise, re-evaluating the
underlying findings would serve no useful purpose in the
appeal. The efficiency of stating the facts and evaluating the
evidence is entirely justified, since the core element remains
undisputed. Thus, reiterating these settled matters would
only clutter the final judicial analysis. Therefore, this Court
can safely adopt the existing record without further review.
This omission ensures a focused, clear, and efficient resolution
of the remaining issue argued before the Court.
3. Learned advocate for the appellants - claimants has
submitted that the Tribunal has committed an error in not
properly calculating the amount of compensation. It is submitted
that amount of award is on lower side as the Tribunal has not
properly considered the various aspects; like prospective income
of the deceased, negligence, liability and family circumstances,
etc.
3.1 Learned advocate for the appellants – claimants has
submitted that the compensation is required to be enhanced by
modifying the award impugned accordingly and this appeal may
be allowed.
4. Per contra , learned advocate for respondent –
Insurance Company has submitted that the impugned judgment
and award passed by the Tribunal is just and proper. The
Tribunal has rightly considered the income of the deceased, the
age of the deceased, the dependency and future aspect of
income. It is submitted that under the head of loss of estate and
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funeral expenses, the Tribunal has rightly awarded
compensation. It is submitted that the amount under the head of
loss of consortium is just and proper. It is submitted that this
appeal may be dismissed and no interference be made by this
Court.
5. Apt to note that the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988 is a
beneficial piece of Legislation. The concept of just and fair
compensation is integral and seminal to the MV Act. The
compensation to be awarded under the principle of just and fair
compensation to the injured of the road accident or the legal
representative/s of the deceased person is based on the principle
of fairness, reasonableness and equability. Anguish of the heart
or for mental turbulence being consequential result of the road
accident cannot be actually compensated, but the quint
essentiality lies in adopting holistic and pragmatic view to the
computation of the compensation for the loss sustained, which is
to be in the realm of realistic approximation. Although exact or
perfect arithmetical calculation of compensation for reparation of
the loss arrived from the road accident is almost impossible. The
Tribunal is bestowed with duty to make an endevour to award
just compensation regardless of the amount claimed by the
claimants. The determination of the quantum of compensation
therefore, must be liberal and not niggardly since the law values
life and limb in a free country in generous scale. Needless to
state that money may be awarded, so that something tangible
may be procured to reach something else of the like nature,
which has been destroyed or lost, but money cannot renew
physical frame that has been battered and shattered being a
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result of the road accident. Yet Tribunal to endavour to bring
back victim to stage of pre-road accident as far as possible
Thus, the award must be reasonable and cannot be assessed
with moderation though it cannot at the same time be pity and
what could be granted must be just, fair and equitable
compensation.
6.1 I have considered the submissions made by the rival
parties. I have perused the record and proceedings of the
Tribunal. I have gone through the impugned judgment and
award passed by the learned Tribunal. From the record, it
transpires that the learned Tribunal has not properly considered
monthly income of the deceased. Further, considering the ratio
laid down by the Hon’ble Apex Court in the case of National
Insurance Company Ltd. Vs. Pranay Shethi reported in
(2017) 16 SCC 680 , the general and non-pecuniary damages,
Rs.19,965/- each towards loss of estate and funeral expenses
should be awarded. Towards loss of consortium, Rs.53,240/- to
each dependent should be awarded as per the decision of the
Hon’ble Apex Court in the case of United India Insurance Co.
Ltd., versus Satinder Kaur @ Satwinder Kaur reported in
(2021) 11 SCC 780 .
6.2 Therefore, total compensation would be as under, which
the claimants/s is/are entitled to get.
Particulars Amount (Rs.)
Future dependency Loss 25,95,045/-
Loss of Estate, consortium & funeral 2,52,890/-
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expenses
Total… 28,47,935/-
25% contributory negligence 21,35,951/-
Less: compensation to be awarded 16,37,000/-
Additional amount which is awarded 4,98,951/-
7. Therefore, I hold that the claimants are entitled to get
the enhanced compensation of Rs.4,98,951/- with 9% p.a.
interest from the date of filing the claim petition till its
realisation, which would meet the ends of justice.
8. For the reasons recorded above, the following order is
passed.
8.1 The present appeal is partly allowed .
8.2 The Insurance Company is directed to deposit the
enhanced amount with interest as stated herein above within a
period of eight weeks from the date of receipt of this order. Rest
of the direction(s) of the Tribunal remain same.
8.3 The Tribunal shall disburse the entire awarded
amount lying in the FDR and/or with the Tribunal, with accrued
interest thereon, if any, to the claimants, by account payee
cheque / NEFT / RTGS, after proper verification and after
following due procedure.
8.4 While making the payment, the Tribunal shall deduct
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the courts fees, if not paid, in accordance with rules/law.
8.5 The claimant is not entitled for interest on enhanced
amount of compensation for delayed period of 64 days.
8.5 Record and proceedings be sent back to the
concerned Tribunal, forthwith.
(J. C. DOSHI,J)
SHEKHAR P. BARVE
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