The Andhra Pradesh High Court has more than doubled the compensation awarded to the family of a young accident victim, increasing it from Rs 3.85 lakh to Rs 7.74 lakh. The Court ruled that future earning potential must be considered when calculating compensation, even if the deceased was working on a fixed salary.
The case involved a 21-year-old security guard who was earning Rs 4,238 per month and had been employed with a private security company in Hyderabad for about two years. He died in a road accident when a tractor and harvester, allegedly driven negligently, hit him while he was travelling with his father to their agricultural land. A criminal case was registered after the accident.
Following his death, his parents and brother approached the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal seeking Rs 6 lakh in compensation. The Tribunal held the vehicle driver responsible for the accident and awarded Rs 3.85 lakh with 7.5 per cent annual interest. The vehicle owner and insurer were held jointly liable.
The family challenged the award before the High Court, arguing that the Tribunal had failed to consider future prospects and had awarded inadequate compensation under various heads.
The High Court agreed, noting that Supreme Court guidelines require a 40 per cent addition towards future prospects for workers below 40 years of age who are on fixed salaries. Accordingly, the deceased’s monthly income was recalculated at ?5,933 and his annual income at Rs 71,196.
The Court also corrected the multiplier used for calculating compensation. Instead of using the mother’s age, it applied a multiplier of 18 based on the deceased’s age of 21. This significantly increased the loss of dependency amount.
In addition, the Court awarded compensation towards loss of consortium for both parents, loss of estate, funeral expenses and transportation charges. The revised compensation was fixed at Rs 7,74,764 with 7.5 per cent interest, and the appeal was allowed with costs of Rs 20,000.
