Future prospects must be included in multiplier-based compensation for permanent disability.

The claimant, aged 22, sustained injuries—including a below-knee amputation of his right leg—in a road accident on 7 February 2018 involving a lorry and the tractor in which he was travelling.

The Tribunal found the lorry driver negligent and assessed the claimant’s permanent disability at 60%, adopting the multiplier method. It fixed his monthly income at ₹10,000 and awarded total compensation of ₹21,19,900. The claimant appealed under Section 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, seeking enhancement, principally on the grounds that his income and compensation under several heads had been assessed too low.

Whether the Tribunal’s assessment of the claimant’s monthly income at ₹10,000 should be enhanced in calculating compensation for loss of earning capacity.

Whether the amounts awarded for pain and suffering, loss of marriage prospects, extra nourishment, attendant charges and transportation expenses required enhancement.

Under Section 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, an aggrieved claimant may appeal against an award of the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal.

For calculating compensation for loss of earning capacity, the Court applied the multiplier method, taking account of the claimant’s income, age and assessed disability. It relied on National Insurance Company Ltd. v. Pranay Sethi, 2017 (2) TNMAC 609 (SC), for adding 40% future prospects to the claimant’s income.

The Court also assessed compensation under the relevant non-pecuniary and expense heads by reference to the injuries, treatment and other circumstances shown in the record.

The Court found no dispute regarding the accident or the lorry driver’s negligence. Given the accident’s occurrence in 2018, the claimant’s age of 22 and his civil engineering diploma, it considered the Tribunal’s ₹10,000 monthly-income assessment inadequate and fixed income at ₹14,000.

Applying 40% future prospects, the multiplier of 18 appropriate to the claimant’s age, and the Medical Board’s 60% disability assessment, it recalculated loss of earning capacity at ₹25,40,160.

In view of the claimant’s 30-day inpatient treatment and the injuries sustained, it increased compensation for pain and suffering, extra nourishment, attendant charges, transportation and loss of marriage prospects, while leaving medical expenses and damage to clothing unchanged.

The insurer was directed to deposit the enhanced compensation, less any amount already deposited; the claimant may withdraw the amount on application, subject to payment of court fee on the enhancement, if due.