Karnataka HC Raises Injured Car Passenger’s Award To ₹3.79 Lakh, Assessing 10% Whole-Body Disability

On 25 August 2019, H. Basanna, his daughter Sunanda and his granddaughter were travelling in an Innova car when it allegedly left the road and struck an electric pole and a tree.

Basanna died from his injuries; Sunanda sustained injuries, including fractures, and was hospitalised for nine days.

The Tribunal partly allowed the claims, awarding Rs.6,40,000 in the death claim and Rs.2,45,725 in Sunanda’s injury claim, as stated in the High Court’s final order.

The claimants appealed under Section 173(1) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, seeking enhancement.

The appeals were brought under Section 173(1) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, which provides for an appeal against a Motor Accident Claims Tribunal award.

Under National Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Pranay Sethi, conventional heads of compensation are subject to the applicable 10% escalation.

Magma General Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Nanu Ram recognises spousal, parental and filial consortium, with filial consortium awarded to parents who lose a child.

For calculating loss of future income, the Court applied the multiplier approach in Sarla Verma v. Delhi Transport Corporation: the multiplier is selected by reference to the claimant’s age.

In the death claim, the Court left the Tribunal’s Rs.5,30,000 award for loss of dependency undisturbed.

It considered the grandchildren ineligible for consortium under the recognised categories, but applied 10% escalation to the existing consortium, loss-of-estate and funeral-expense awards, increasing the total to Rs.6,51,000.

For Sunanda, the Court assessed whole-body functional disability at 10%, accepted monthly income of Rs.13,250 and, given her age of 45, applied a multiplier of 14 to calculate future income loss at Rs.2,22,600.

It also increased pain-and-suffering and amenities-related compensation, and awarded Rs.30,000 for income lost during a three-month recovery period; medical and transport expenses were left unchanged.

It enhanced compensation in the death claim from Rs.6,40,000 to Rs.6,51,000 and in Sunanda’s injury claim from Rs.2,45,725 to Rs.3,79,200.

The enhanced amounts carry interest at 6% per annum from the date of the claim petition until payment, and the insurer was directed to deposit them with accrued interest within six weeks of receiving the certified judgment.