NEW DELHI: The Chhattisgarh high court has ruled that a tribunal cannot cut a road accident victim’s compensation by half just because three people were travelling on the vehicle at the time of the crash. In its order on June 30, the court also found that the victim’s income had been wrongly assessed too low, and raised the total compensation to nearly Rs 19 lakh.What was the issueThe case was filed by the family of Shiv Kumar, who died in a road accident. In 2019, the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) in Baikunthpur had awarded the family Rs 6,77,600 as compensation, but cut it by half, holding that Kumar had contributed to the accident because three people, including him, were travelling on the vehicle, as per the court order.Kumar’s family challenged this order before the high court. Their counsel argued that the tribunal’s 50 per cent cut went against a Supreme Court ruling in Mohammed Siddique & another v. National Insurance Company Limited & others, which had dealt with a similar situation.The family further argued that the tribunal had wrongly assessed Kumar’s monthly income at just Rs 6,000, when it should have been higher as per Chhattisgarh’s official minimum wage rules, and that the amount given to them under “consortium” — compensation for loss of companionship — was too low.The driver and owner of the vehicle involved in the accident said, through their lawyer, that they should not have to pay any compensation at all. The insurance company also disagreed with the family’s request. It said the tribunal was right to cut the compensation by half.What did the court sayJustice Sanjay K. Agrawal set aside the tribunal’s finding and decided to increase the compensation. He held that the 50 per cent deduction went against an earlier Supreme Court ruling.“The said finding of the claims tribunal runs contrary to the decision of the Supreme Court in the matter of Mohammed Siddique (supra). Accordingly, deduction of 50 percent compensation is set aside,” the court observed.“Learned claims tribunal assessed the monthly income of deceased to be Rs 6,000 however, in the opinion of this court, as per the Chhattisgarh Minimum Wages Notification issued by the office of Labour Commissioner, Chhattisgarh, the monthly income of the deceased should be Rs 7,930/- (as per minimum wages prescribed at relevant time for skilled labour) and Rs 95,160/- per annum,” it added.It also agreed the consortium amount needed to be raised.The court raised the consortium amount from Rs 40,000 to Rs 1,60,000, added a 40 per cent loading for future prospects on the higher income figure, and removed the 50 per cent deduction entirely.The compensation of Rs 6,77,600 given by the tribunal was also raised to Rs 18,88,606. The family will now get an extra Rs 12,11,006 on top of what they already received.The court then directed the respondent to pay this additional amount within three months, along with 7.5 per cent annual interest calculated from the date the family first filed their compensation claim before the tribunal. The rest of the tribunal’s original order was left unchanged, and the appeal was allowed in part.
