For 2018 accidents, a skilled mason’s notional income is ₹12,500 per month under the KSLSA chart.

The deceased, a 40-year-old mason, died from injuries sustained when his scooter was struck from behind by a motorcycle on 1 December 2018.

His wife and minor son brought a claim under Section 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.

The Tribunal found the motorcycle rider negligent and awarded Rs.17,07,500, including compensation for dependency, consortium, estate, funeral and transportation expenses, and medical expenses.

The claimants appealed seeking enhancement, principally challenging the income assessment and consortium award

Whether the Tribunal’s assessment of compensation was just and reasonable, or warranted enhancement under the principles governing motor-accident claims

Under Section 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, compensation must be just and reasonable.

Where reliable evidence of income is unavailable, the court may use an appropriate standardized income assessment; the court applied the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority’s 2018 guideline of Rs.12,500 per month for a skilled manual worker or mason.

Under *National Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Pranay Sethi*, future prospects are added for a self-employed deceased, and conventional heads of compensation are assessed in accordance with the applicable principles.

The Court also relied on *Sarla Verma v. Delhi Transport Corporation* for the personal-expense deduction and multiplier framework, and on *Magma General Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Nanu Ram* and *United India Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Satinder Kaur* for spousal and parental consortium.

The Court held that the Tribunal had understated the deceased’s income by fixing it at Rs.10,000 per month; applying the KSLSA guideline, it reassessed the income at Rs.12,500 and added 25% for future prospects, producing monthly income of Rs.15,625.

With two dependants, it calculated the family contribution as two-thirds of that amount and applied a multiplier of 15, assessing loss of dependency at Rs.18,75,000.

It awarded Rs.40,000 each for spousal and parental consortium, maintained Rs.15,000 each for loss of estate and funeral and transportation expenses, and affirmed medical expenses of Rs.1,37,332.

The Court modified the Tribunal’s award and fixed total compensation at Rs.21,22,332, an enhancement of Rs.4,14,832.

The enhanced amount carries interest at 6% per annum from the date of the claim petition until realization.

United India Insurance Co. Ltd. was directed to deposit the enhanced compensation and accrued interest before the Tribunal within six weeks of receiving a certified copy of the judgment.