Facts
On 28.10.2014, the deceased was riding a scooter when he was hit by a motorcycle ridden negligently by the second respondent.
Source reference: p. 2The deceased succumbed to his injuries the same day.
Source reference: p. 2The legal heirs (mother and three siblings) filed a claim before the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT), Kozhikode, which awarded ₹12,94,360/- as compensation.
Source reference: p. 3The appellants approached the High Court seeking enhancement of the compensation, specifically challenging the notional income and the calculation of various heads of damages.
Source reference: p. 4Issues
1. Whether the notional income of the deceased was correctly fixed by the Tribunal for an accident occurring in 2014.
Source reference: p. 42. Whether siblings of the deceased are entitled to compensation under the head of "loss of love and affection" or "consortium".
Source reference: p. 7Law Applied
The court applied the principles from *Ramachandrappa v. Manager, Royal Sundaram Alliance Insurance Co. Ltd.*, fixing the notional income of a manual worker in 2014 at ₹9,500/- per month.
Source reference: p. 4Regarding future prospects and multipliers, the court followed *National Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Pranay Sethi*, which mandates a 40% addition for future prospects for victims below 40 years and restricts compensation to three conventional heads: loss of estate, loss of consortium, and funeral expenses.
Source reference: p. 4, 7The court further relied on *Magma General Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Nanu Ram*, which categorized consortium into spousal, parental, and filial, and held that "loss of love and affection" is subsumed within "consortium" and cannot be a separate head.
Source reference: p. 7Finally, it cited *V. Pathmavathi v. Bharathi Axa*, reinforcing that siblings are not recognized as beneficiaries for consortium.
Source reference: p. 8Reasoning
The court found the Tribunal’s assessment of ₹5,000/- as monthly income inadequate, refixing it at ₹9,500/- based on the *Ramachandrappa* precedent for an electrician/plumber in 2014.
Source reference: p. 4Applying *Pranay Sethi*, the court added 40% for future prospects and applied a multiplier of 18, resulting in a revised dependency loss of ₹14,36,400/-.
Source reference: p. 5Regarding the ₹4,00,000/- awarded by the Tribunal for "loss of love and affection" to siblings, the court analyzed the *Magma General* and *Pathmavathi* rulings.
Source reference: p. 8-9It determined that while parents are entitled to filial consortium and a spouse to spousal consortium, siblings do not have a legal entitlement to "consortium" or "love and affection" as distinct heads under current Supreme Court jurisprudence.
Source reference: p. 8-9Consequently, the court reduced this award to ₹40,000/-, limited only to the mother for filial consortium.
Source reference: p. 9Holding
The High Court partly allowed the appeal, answering that the notional income must be enhanced and that siblings are not entitled to consortium.
The total compensation was enhanced from ₹12,94,360/- to ₹15,60,760/-, resulting in an additional award of ₹2,66,400/- with 9% interest per annum.
Source reference: p. 10The court directed the insurer to deposit the enhanced amount within two months.
Source reference: p. 11Original Court PDF
Mariyakutty & Ors. v. United India Insurance Company Ltd. [MACA No. 1915 of 2016 (2026:KER:16880)]
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