Karnataka HC Raises Crash Compensation By ₹8.36 Lakh For 29-Year-Old’s Widow And Two Children

In brief

The question

1. Whether the Tribunal’s assessment of compensation for loss of dependency required enhancement by adding future prospects.

The court held

The appeal was allowed in part.

It also directed

The Court fixed total compensation at ₹30,21,000, compared with the Tribunal’s award of ₹21,85,000, and awarded enhanced compensation of ₹8,36,000 with interest at 6% per annum from the date of the petition until realization.

Interest was excluded for the 791-day delay in filing the appeal.

The insurer was directed to deposit the enhanced amount within six weeks; the compensation was allocated in the ratio 40:10:50, with the minors’ shares placed in fixed deposits until majority and half of the first claimant’s share placed in fixed deposit for three years.

01Facts

The claimants, the widow and two minor children of Haibur Rahman, sought compensation for his death in a road accident on 23 June 2021.

pp. 3–4

The Motor Accident Claims Tribunal awarded ₹21,85,000, including ₹20,40,000 for loss of dependency, and interest at 6% per annum.

pp. 3–4

The claimants appealed under Section 173(1) of the Motor Vehicles Act, seeking enhancement on the grounds that future prospects had not been added and that consortium and conventional heads were insufficient.

pp. 2, 4–5

02Issues

i.1. Whether the Tribunal’s assessment of compensation for loss of dependency required enhancement by adding future prospects.

p. 5

ii.2. Whether the claimants were entitled to enhanced compensation for consortium and conventional heads, including funeral expenses and loss of estate.

pp. 5–6

03Law Applied

The appeal was brought under Section 173(1) of the Motor Vehicles Act.

p. 2

In assessing dependency, the Court applied a 40% addition for future prospects for a deceased aged 29, while retaining the Tribunal’s use of a multiplier of 17 and deduction of one-third for personal expenses.

p. 5

For consortium, the Court applied ₹40,000 per claimant with a 10% escalation; it likewise applied a 10% escalation to funeral expenses and loss of estate, and treated funeral expenses as including transportation of the deceased’s body.

pp. 5–6

The judgment cites no specific precedent for these principles.

pp. 5–6

Provisions in the judgment · 1 · Linked ones open on LawLens

Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 Section 173

04Reasoning

The Court accepted the Tribunal’s notional income of ₹15,000 per month, multiplier of 17, and one-third deduction, but found that the deceased’s age of 29 required a 40% addition for future prospects, increasing loss of dependency from ₹20,40,000 to ₹28,56,000.

p. 5

It awarded consortium of ₹44,000 each to the three claimants and increased funeral expenses and loss of estate to ₹16,500 each.

pp. 5–6

Because funeral expenses included transportation of the body, it disallowed the separate ₹15,000 transportation award.

pp. 5–6