Contributory negligence cannot be imposed on injured passengers without supporting evidence.

On 12 March 2012, the four claimants were travelling with their grandmother in a three-wheeler goods vehicle when it collided with an NWKRTC bus.

They sustained injuries and brought separate claims before the MACT, Kushtagi.

The Tribunal partly allowed the claims, attributed 50% of the negligence to the goods vehicle, and awarded compensation with 9% interest.

The claimants appealed, seeking enhancement and removal of the 50% reduction.

The appeals concerned a six-year-old child, a woman with simple injuries, a man with a fractured femur, and a woman with fractures to her left forearm and femur.

1. Whether the appellants were entitled to enhanced compensation.

2. Whether the Tribunal erred in attributing 50% of the liability to the goods vehicle.

3. Whether the Tribunal was justified in awarding interest at 9% per annum.

The appeals were brought under Section 173(1) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, which provides for appeals from awards of Claims Tribunals.

The Court applied the principles governing just compensation for personal injuries, including assessment of pain and suffering, treatment and recovery-period losses, loss of amenities, and—where supported by the evidence—future loss of earning capacity.

For the unproved income of the adult claimants, it used the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority’s notional-income guideline of ₹6,500 per month for an accident in 2012.

The judgment cites no precedent.

The Court reassessed each claimant’s injuries and supporting medical evidence.

It enhanced the child’s compensation to ₹1,31,934 and the woman with simple injuries’ award to ₹51,000.

For the man with the femur fracture, it assessed whole-body functional disability at 6% and calculated future loss of earnings using the notional income and multiplier, fixing compensation at ₹1,75,020.

For the woman with multiple fractures and a 25% limb disability, it assessed whole-body disability at 8% and awarded ₹2,29,630.

On liability, the Court found no evidence supporting contributory negligence by the claimants; the police had charge-sheeted the bus driver, and the respondents had neither produced contrary evidence nor taken steps to implead the goods vehicle’s owner or driver.

It therefore set aside the 50% attribution to the goods vehicle.

It reduced the interest rate from 9% to 6% per annum.

The Court modified the Tribunal’s awards and directed the respondent-Corporation to pay the full compensation awarded to each claimant, with interest at 6% per annum from the date of petition to deposit, excluding the period of delay in filing the appeals, within eight weeks of receiving the certified judgment.

The operative order states that the award for MVC No. 130/2015 was ₹91,444, whereas the reasoning states that the Tribunal had awarded ₹90,444; the judgment thus contains an inconsistency in the stated original amount.