Nafr High Court
Case Details
1 ASHOK SAHU Digitally signed by ASHOK SAHU Date: 2025.09.01 10:15:27 +0530 2025:CGHC:44055 NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR MAC No. 1000 of 2022 1 - Smt. Meena Bai, W/o. Late Vishal Ram, Aged About 50 Years, R/o. Village Godela, Ward No.1, Tahsil Gunderdehi, District : Balod, Chhattisgarh 2 - Vinod Kumar, S/o. Late Vishal Ram, Aged About 28 Years, R/o. Village Godela, Ward No.1, Tahsil Gunderdehi, District : Balod, Chhattisgarh 3 – Yuvraj, S/o. Late Vishal Ram, Aged About 25 Years, R/o. Village Godela, Ward No.1, Tahsil Gunderdehi, District : Balod, Chhattisgarh 4 - Lokesh Kumar Sahu, S/o. Late Vishal Ram, Aged About 22 Years, R/o. Village Godela, Ward No.1, Tahsil Gunderdehi, District : Balod, Chhattisgarh ... Appellants Claimants versus 1 - Baljinder Singh Sardar, S/o. Gurubaksh Singh Sikh, Aged About 43 Years, R/o. Qr. No. LIG - 2426, Jamul, P.S. Jamul, District Durg. ….. Driver - (C.G. 19 BG 7624) 2 2 - Ashwini Kumar Sahu, S/o. Chetan Singh Sahu, Aged About 36 Years, R/o. Ward No. 37, Ganjpara, Durg Tahsil & District Durg. …….Owner - (C.G. 19 BG 7624) 3 - United India Insurance Company Limited, Through Branch Manager, Paras Complex, Near Gurudwara, Station Road Durg, District Durg, ….Insurer - (C.G. 19 BG 7624) ... Respondents For Appellants
Legal Reasoning
: Mr. Utsav Mahiswar, Advocate For Respondent No.3. : Mr. Dashrath Gupta, Advocate (Single Bench) Hon'ble Shri Justice Sanjay K. Agrawal Judgment on Board 29.08.2025 1. This appeal under Section 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (for short “Act of 1988”) has been preferred by the appellants/claimants seeking enhancement of the amount of compensation, challenging the impugned award dated 01.07.2022 passed by learned 1st Additional Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Durg in Claim Case No.158/2021, whereby an amount of Rs. 8,57,500/- has been awarded as compensation to the claimants for the death of Vishal Ram, who was working as labour, aged about 52 years, at the time of incident. 3 2. Appellants, who are wife and three sons of the deceased Vishal Ram, filed an application under Section 166 of the Act of 1988 before the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (for brevity “Claims Tribunal”) seeking compensation to the tune of Rs. 23,50,000/- pleading therein that on the date of accident, deceased Vishal Ram was aged about 51 years and was a sole bread earner of the family and on account of his untimely death in the accident, the appellants have suffered economical and psychological difficulties. 3. Learned Claims Tribunal, upon appreciation of pleadings and evidence placed on record by respective parties, held that deceased Vishal Ram died in the accident arising out of rash & negligent driving of the offending vehicle driven by the respondent No.1, owned by the respondent No.2 and insured by the respondent No.3. Breach of conditions of insurance policy was not found to be proved and after calculating the amount of compensation, the learned Claims Tribunal awarded Rs. 8,57,500/- as total compensation with interest @ 9% per annum from the date of filing of claim application. 4. Mr. Utsav Mahiswar, learned counsel for the appellants, would submit that learned Claims Tribunal has awarded very meager amount, as the Claims Tribunal erred in assessing income of deceased as Rs.6,000/- per month which should be Rs. 8,860/- as per Chhattisgarh Minimum Wages Notification issued by the office 4 of the Labour Commissioner, Chhattisgarh. Therefore, the instant appeal be allowed and the amount of compensation awarded by the learned Claims Tribunal may be suitably enhanced. 5. Mr. Dashrath Gupta, learned counsel for the insurance company/respondent No.3 would submit that the appellants have failed to prove the exact income of deceased by producing clinching and admissible piece of evidence, hence, the learned Claims Tribunal is justified in assessing income of deceased on notional basis. The amount of compensation awarded by the learned Claims Tribunal is just and proper, which does not call for any interference. 6. 7. I have heard learned counsel for the parties, considered their rival submissions made herein-above and gone through the records minutely. Learned Claims Tribunal assessed the monthly income of deceased Vishal Ram to be Rs.6,000/- per month, however, in the opinion of this Court, as per the Chhattisgarh Minimum Wages Notification issued by the office of Labour Commissioner, Chhattisgarh for unskilled labour, the monthly income of the deceased should be Rs.8,860/- per month, which comes to Rs. 1,06,320/- per annum. 8. Thus, in light of the aforesaid discussion and in light of the judgments of the Supreme Court rendered in the matters of 5 National Insurance Company Ltd. V. Pranay Sethi 1, Sarla Verma & Ors. Vs. Delhi Transport Corporation & Ors2 and Magma General Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Nanu Ram @ Chuhru Ram & Ors 3 , this Court is computing the compensation as below:- Heads Compensation awarded by the Tribunal Compensation awarded by this Court Income as per minimum wages Rs. 6,000 x 12 = Rs. 72,000/- Rs. 8,860 x 12 = Rs. 1,06,320/- Future prospects @ 25% which comes to Rs.18,000 + 72,000 = Rs.90,000/- @ 10%, which comes to Rs.10,632 + 1,06,320 = Rs. 1,16,952/- Deduction of ¼ towards personal expenses Multiplier of 11 Loss of spousal consortium to wife, claimant No.1 Loss of love & affection to sons, claimant No.2 to 4 Loss of Estate Rs.90,000 – 22,500 = Rs.67,500/- Rs. 1,16,952 – 29,238 = Rs.87,714/- Rs. 7,42,500/- Rs. 9,64,854/- Rs. 40,000/- Rs. 40,000/- Rs. 15,000 x 3 = Rs. Rs. 40,000 x 3 = Rs. 45,000/- 1,20,000/- Rs. 15,000/- Rs. 15,000/- Funeral Expenses Rs. 15,000/- Rs. 15,000/- Total Rs. 8,57,500/- Rs. 11,54,854/- 9. In view of the aforesaid analysis, the amount of compensation of Rs. 8,57,500/- awarded by the Claims Tribunal is enhanced to Rs. 1 2 3