Compensation must reflect the applicable minimum wage when the tribunal understates the deceased’s income.

Nutan Chelak, aged about 35, died in a road accident on 13 March 2021.

His widow and two minor children challenged the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal’s award of ₹16,09,352, contending that the deceased’s income had been assessed too low.

The Tribunal had assessed his monthly income at ₹8,060.

On appeal under Section 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, the claimants sought enhancement; the insurer opposed the appeal.

Whether the Tribunal erred in assessing the deceased’s monthly income at ₹8,060 rather than ₹8,960 under the applicable Chhattisgarh minimum-wage notification.

Whether correcting the income assessment warranted enhancement of the compensation awarded to the claimants.

Section 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 provides for an appeal against an award of the Claims Tribunal.

In calculating compensation, the Court applied the principles in National Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Pranay Sethi, Sarla Verma & Ors. v. Delhi Transport Corporation & Ors., and Magma General Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Nanu Ram @ Chuhru Ram & Ors.

The calculation incorporated future prospects, deduction for personal expenses, the applicable multiplier, and conventional heads.

The Court also relied on the Chhattisgarh minimum-wage notification to determine the deceased’s monthly income.

The Court held that the Tribunal had understated the deceased’s monthly income: the applicable minimum-wage notification supported an assessment of ₹8,960, not ₹8,060.

Applying the same calculation framework and other assumptions used by the Tribunal, but substituting the corrected income, the Court recalculated the loss of dependency at ₹16,05,632.

It left the conventional-heads award unchanged at ₹1,65,000, producing total compensation of ₹17,70,632.

The claimants were awarded an additional ₹1,61,280, with interest at 6% per annum from the date the claim application was filed until realization.

The remaining terms of the Tribunal’s award were left undisturbed.

The Registry was directed to communicate the enhanced amount to the claimants in Hindi.