2024 Karnataka motor-accident claims use the ₹17,000 monthly notional income for calculating loss of dependency.

The appellants, the deceased Rangaiah’s wife and mother, sought compensation for his death in a road accident on 8 March 2024.

The Motor Accident Claims Tribunal partly allowed their claim, awarding ₹13,37,636, including compensation for loss of dependency and conventional heads, with interest at 6% per annum.

The claimants appealed under Section 173(1) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, seeking enhancement

1. Whether the Tribunal correctly assessed the deceased’s income for calculating loss of dependency, or whether the award required enhancement

2. Whether the compensation under conventional heads required enhancement by applying the applicable escalation

Under Section 173(1) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, an aggrieved claimant may appeal an award of the Claims Tribunal

In assessing loss of dependency, the court considered the deceased’s age, the applicable multiplier, the deduction for personal expenses, and future prospects; it applied a multiplier of 9, a one-third deduction, and 10% future prospects.

The court used the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority’s 2024 notional income of ₹17,000 per month.

For conventional heads, it relied on *National Insurance Company v. Pranay Sethi*, AIR 2017 SC 5157, and applied a 20% escalation to the amounts for consortium, loss of estate, and funeral expenses.

The High Court upheld the Tribunal’s use of a multiplier of 9, the one-third deduction for personal expenses, and the 10% addition for future prospects, but substituted the 2024 KSLSA notional income of ₹17,000 for the Tribunal’s ₹15,500 figure.

On that basis, it recalculated loss of dependency at ₹13,46,400.

It also found that the Tribunal had omitted the 20% escalation applicable to conventional heads and enhanced consortium to ₹96,000, loss of estate to ₹18,000, and funeral expenses to ₹18,000.

The resulting total compensation was ₹14,78,400.

The claimants’ total compensation was enhanced from ₹13,37,636 to ₹14,78,400, resulting in an additional award of ₹1,40,764 with interest at 6% per annum from the date of the claim petition until realization.

The insurer was directed to deposit the enhanced amount with interest before the Tribunal within six weeks, and the claimants were entitled to release of the enhanced amount in equal shares.