1 2025:CGHC:48430 NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR MAC No. 746 of 2021 1 - Gautam Kumar Pal S/o Ramvansh Pal Aged About 31 Years R/o Village- Kanda, Post- Kanda P.S. Vishrampur, District- Palamu (Jharkhand) Present Add. Village- Bahadgaon, P.S. Jainagar, Tahsil And District- Surajpur (C.G.). 2 - Asha Devi Gautam Kumar Pal Aged About 28 Years R/o Village- Kanda, Post- Kanda P.S. Vishrampur, District- Palamu (Jharkhand) Present Add. Village- Bahadgaon, P.S. Jainagar, Tahsil And District- Surajpur (C.G.). ... Appellants versus 1 - Navneet Vishwakarma S/o Virendra Vishwakarma Aged About 22 Years R/o Village- Muktipara, P.S. Gandhinagar, District- Sarguja(C.G.) (Driver). 2 - Shiv Vishwakarma S/o Nageshwar Vishwakarma Aged About 70 Years R/o Village- Achla- Navadeeh, P.S. And Tahsil Gadhwa (Jharkhand) Present Add. Muktipara, P.S. - Gandhinagar, District- Sarguja (C.G.) (Owner). 3 - The Oriental Insurance Company Limited Through- Its Branch Manager, Manendragarh Road, Ambikapur, Near Ambedkar Chowk, District- Sarguja (C.G.). ... Respondent(s) For Appellants : Mr. Gyan Prakash Shukla, Advocate For Respondent(s) : Mr. Sanjeev Verma, Advocate and Mr. Akash Shrivastava, Advocate Mr. Bennun, Advocate, on behalf of Mr. R. N. Pusty, Advocate Digitally signed by NADIM MOHLE 2 Hon’ble Shri Justice Rakesh Mohan Pandey Order on Board 19/09/2025 1. This appeal has been preferred by the claimants seeking enhancement of compensation against the award dated 29.10.2021 passed by the learned IIIrd Additional Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Surajpur, District Surajpur, in Claim Case No. 107/2019, wherein the learned Tribunal granted compensation to the tune of 3,90,000/- with interest ₹ at the rate of 8% per annum on account of the death of a child aged about three years in a motor accident. 2. The brief facts are that on 16.03.2019, the deceased child aged about three years met with an accident on account of rash and negligent driving of the offending vehicle bearing Registration No. JH–01-J-5909, by respondent No.1. The child sustained grievous injuries and died during the course of treatment. Claim Case under Section 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act was filed before the learned Tribunal claiming compensation to the tune of 17,00,000/-. The learned Tribunal, ₹ however, awarded a sum of 3,90,000/- only. ₹ 3. Learned counsel for the appellants submitted that the compensation amount awarded by the learned Tribunal is inadequate. He placed reliance on the judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the matter 3 of Kishan Gopal & Anr. vs. Lala & Ors., (2014) 1 SCC 244, wherein the Hon’ble Apex Court has held that in cases of death of a minor child, the claimants are entitled to just and reasonable compensation. It is argued that in view of the said principle laid down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court, the compensation deserves to be enhanced. 4. On the other hand, learned counsel appearing for the respondents/Insurance Company would oppose the submission made by counsel for the appellants. It is submitted that the deceased was only three years at the time of accident and the compensation awarded by the learned Tribunal is just and proper. 5. I have heard learned counsel for the parties perused the record. 6. In the matter of Meena Devi v. Nunu Chand Mahto, (2023) 1 SCC 204, the Hon'ble Supreme Court gave following observations: "13. Thereafter in Kishan Gopal [Kishan Gopal v. Lala, (2014) 1 SCC 244] , a child aged about 10 years died in a road accident took place on 19-7-1992, this Court made departure from the IInd Schedule of the MV Act and accepted the notional income of Rs 30,000 in place of Rs 15,000 applying the analogy that the value of rupee has come down drastically since 1994 when the notional income of Rs 15,000 was fixed in IInd Schedule of the MV Act. However accepting the notional income as Rs 30,000 and as per the age of the parents i.e. 36 years, the loss of dependency was calculated applying the multiplier of 15 at Rs 4,50,000 and a sum of Rs 50,000 was awarded under conventional heads awarding a total sum of compensation of Rs 5,00,000.” 7. Recently in the matter of Kurvan Ansari v. Shyam Kishore Murmu [Kurvan Ansari v. Shyam Kishore Murmu, (2022) 1 SCC 317 : (2022) 4 1 SCC (Civ) 365 : (2022) 1 SCC (Cri) 173] , wherein a child aged about 7 years died in a road accident took place on 6-9-2004. The Hon’ble Supreme Court taking notional income as Rs 25,000, applying the multiplier of 15, calculated the loss of dependency as Rs 3,75,000 and adding Rs 55,000 in conventional heads, awarded Rs 4,70,000. 8. In the matter of Kishan Gopal (supra), the Hon’ble Supreme Court, while dealing with the death of a 10-year-old child, awarded ₹5,00,000/- as just compensation and held that in cases of death of minor children, compensation should not be illusory but must be reasonable, keeping in view the loss to the parents. 9. Taking into consideration the above discussed facts & law, I am of the opinion that a sum of 5,00,000/- (Rupees Five Lakh only) would be just ₹ and proper compensation. Accordingly, the compensation awarded by the learned Tribunal is enhanced from 3,90,000/- to 5,00,000/-. The ₹ ₹ Insurance Company shall pay the enhanced amount, i.e., an additional sum of 1,10,000/- (Rupees One Lakh Ten Thousand only), with interest ₹ at the rate of 6% per annum from the date of filing of the claim case till the date of payment. 10. The appeal is allowed in part to the extent indicated hereinabove. No order as to costs. Sd/- Rakesh Mohan Pandey JUDGE Nadim