Minimum wages and parental consortium must be considered for enhancement of motor accident death compensation.

On April 2, 2017, the deceased, Mehulkumar Rameshbhai Mahesuriya (aged 23), was traveling in a Chevrolet car when a truck, driven negligently at high speed, collided with the vehicle, resulting in his death

The claimants (parents) filed MACP No. 86/2017 seeking ₹35,93,000/- in compensation

The Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT), Banaskantha, awarded ₹10,94,400/- with 9% interest, assessing the deceased's monthly income at a nominal ₹7,000/- due to lack of documentary proof

The claimants appealed to the High Court seeking enhancement of the quantum

1. Whether the Tribunal erred in assessing the monthly income of the deceased at ₹7,000/- in the absence of cogent evidence, rather than applying the prevailing minimum wage

2. Whether the claimants are entitled to enhanced compensation under the heads of loss of consortium and other conventional heads based on settled legal precedents

Per National Insurance Company Ltd. v. Pranay Sethi (2017), the court must include future prospects (40% for deceased under 40 years with notional income) and standardized conventional heads for loss of estate and funeral expenses

It further relied on Magma General Insurance Company Limited v. Nanu Ram @ Chuhru Ram (2018) to establish that "consortium" includes "filial consortium" payable to parents for the loss of a child

For income assessment in the absence of evidence, the court applied the Minimum Wages notified by the Government of State for the relevant category and period

The Court noted that while the deceased's claimed income of ₹15,000/- was not proved, the Tribunal's assessment of ₹7,000/- was unfairly low. It held that the minimum wage for a skilled worker in Gujarat at the time of the accident (April 2017) was ₹8,388/-, which the court rounded to ₹8,400/-

Following Pranay Sethi, the Court added 40% for future prospects (totaling ₹11,760/-) and deducted 1/2 for personal expenses as the deceased was unmarried, resulting in a dependency of ₹5,880/- per month. Applying a multiplier of 18, the future loss of dependency was recalculated to ₹12,70,080/-

The Court observed that the Tribunal failed to award loss of consortium; per Magma General, it awarded ₹48,400/- to each parent (totaling ₹96,800/-). Additionally, the conventional heads for loss of estate and funeral expenses were adjusted to ₹18,150/- each to reflect standard increases

The claimants were awarded an additional sum of ₹3,08,780/- with interest at 9% per annum from the date of the claim petition's filing until realization. The Court directed the insurance company to deposit the additional amount within six weeks and ordered the Tribunal to disburse the same to the claimants after verifying court fees