Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 – Motor accident – Compensation – Enhancement – Appellant, aged 21 years, veterinary student and a State Level player in Volleyball hit by a car resulting in quadriplegia-paralysis of all four limbs, and declared 100% disabled – Claim petition – Tribunal awarded ₹5,16,000/as compensation – In appeal, the High Court enhanced compensation to ₹15,25,600/- – Challenge to:
Held: Income of the appellant has been taken on the lower side, which deserves to be enhanced – Appellant was a good sportsman and had certain technical qualification to his credit, taking his income merely at ₹5,600/- per month was not appropriate, it was less than the minimum wage for unskilled worker – Thus, his income is assessed as ₹7,500/- per month – High Court rightly applied the multiplier of 18 but failed to grant future prospects under the head ‘Loss of Income’ which should be 40% and income after taking into account future prospects would be ₹10,500/- per month (₹7,500x1.4) – Also, judicial notice taken of the fact that physiotherapy would be required – In view thereof, total compensation amounting to Rs. 36,84,000/- awarded, assessed under the heads-loss of income, medical expenses, attendent charges, special diet, pain and sufferring, expenses towards physiotherapy, future medical expenses, and loss of marriage prospects – Impugned order modified to that extent – Enhanced amount of compensation be calculated and transferred in the bank account of the appellant by the Insurance Company within the stipulated period. [Paras 9-13] Directions by Supreme Court – Motor accident cases – Mode of payment of compensation:
Held: No uniform practice followed regarding deposit of the amount before the tribunal, whether the amount would remain in government treasury or would be transferred in bank to be kept in interest bearing fixed deposits – General practice followed by the insurance companies is to deposit the same before the tribunal – Instead of following that process, mode of payment of compensation to be streamlined by directly transferring the amount in the bank accounts of the claimants with intimation to the tribunal, to save the insurance companies and the claimants from the hassles of the court processes– Tribunal may require claimants to furnish their bank particulars at the initial stage of the pleadings – If there is no bank account, then claimants should be required to open it – Change in bank account particulars to be updated before the tribunal – Bank account to be in the name of the claimant and if minor, through guardian who is a family member – Where tribunal directs for keeping a certain percentage of the amount in the fixed deposit, such direction can always be issued in the award itself to be complied with by the bank – Real object of beneficial legislation, to compensate for the loss of earning member of the family or for the injuries suffered by the claimant, would be achieved, and compensation can be disbursed without delay if process of direct transfer to bank is followed – Directions being issued for bank transfer of the amount of compensation in motor accident cases, can always be followed by courts/tribunals in any matter. [Paras 14, 14.6, 17-20]
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Headnotes prepared by: Nidhi Jain. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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