Consortium compensation must be awarded individually to each eligible spouse, child, and parent.

Late Bhuneshwar Sahu died in a motor-vehicle accident on 5 February 2024. His wife, two minor children, father, and mother filed a claim petition against the driver, owner, and insurer.

In Claim Case No. 260/2024, the Claims Tribunal awarded total compensation of ₹28,80,000 by award dated 28 September 2024.

The Tribunal awarded compensation under conventional heads, including consortium, but did not grant consortium separately to all five claimants.

The claimants therefore preferred an appeal under Section 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, seeking enhancement, principally on the ground that each eligible family member was entitled to consortium in accordance with National Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Pranay Sethi .

Whether the compensation awarded under the head of consortium was inadequate because consortium had not been granted separately to all five claimants.

Whether the appellants were entitled to an additional amount over and above the compensation awarded by the Claims Tribunal.

Section 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 permits an aggrieved party to appeal against an award of the Claims Tribunal.

The Court applied the principles laid down by the Supreme Court in National Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Pranay Sethi , (2017) 16 SCC 680, under which appropriate amounts are payable under conventional heads, including loss of consortium.

The Court recognized spousal, parental, and filial consortium as compensable heads and held that consortium should be awarded to each of the five claimants at ₹48,000 each in the circumstances of the case.

The Tribunal had not granted parental consortium to one of the children and filial consortium to one of the parents, resulting in an incomplete award under the consortium head.

Applying Pranay Sethi , the High Court held that the wife, two children, and both parents were each entitled to consortium.

It accordingly recalculated consortium at ₹48,000 × 5, totaling ₹2,40,000, instead of the ₹1,44,000 treated as awarded under that head by the Tribunal.

The resulting enhancement was therefore ₹96,000.

The claimants were held entitled to an additional ₹96,000 over and above the compensation awarded by the Claims Tribunal.

The enhanced amount was directed to carry interest at 6% per annum from the date of filing of the claim petition until realization.

The impugned award was modified to that extent, while the remaining terms and conditions were left undisturbed.

The Registry was also directed to communicate the enhanced amount to the claimants in Hindi Devanagari, with assistance from paralegal workers where necessary.