1 2026:CGHC:20270 NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR MAC No. 1408 of 2023 1 - Smt. Savita Yadav Wd/o Late Manoj Kumar Yadav Aged About 27 Years R/o Village Saraisingar, Tehsil Post Hardibazaar, District : Korba, Chhattisgarh 2 - Rihanshi Yadav D/o Late Manoj Kumar Yadav, Aged About 09 Months, Through Her Mother Savita Yadav Being Minor, R/o Village Saraisingar, Tehsil Post Hardibazaar, District : Korba, Chhattisgarh 3 - Hirawan Yadav S/o Baliram Aged About 52 Years R/o Village Saraisingar, Tehsil Post Hardibazaar, District : Korba, Chhattisgarh 4 - Smt. Pitar Bai W/o Hirawan Yadav Aged About 50 Years R/o Village Saraisingar, Tehsil Post Hardibazaar, District : Korba, Chhattisgarh ... Appellants versus 1 - Sunil Kumar Rohidas S/o Antram Rohidas Aged About 27 Years R/o Korbi, P.O. Dongri, P.S. And Tehsil- Baloda, District Janjgir-Champa (Vehicle- Driver) 2 - Anil Agrawal S/o Balram Agrawal R/o Gupta Gali, Main Road, Korba, District Korba (C.G.) (Vehicle- Owner) 3 - The New India Insurance Company Limited Through Branch Manager, Sada Complex, Transport Nagar, Korba (C.G.) (Insurance Company) ... Respondent(s) For Appellants : None For Respondent No. 1 & 2 : Mr. Aditya Khare, Advocate 2 For Respondent No. 3 Mr. Hanuman Prasad Agrawal, Advocate Hon’ble Shri Justice Sachin Singh Rajput Order on Board 30/04/2026 1. None for the appellant despite repeated calls. As the appeal is pending since 2023, this Court proceeded to decide the same on the basis of record available. 2. The appeal under Section 173 of Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (for short MV Act) has been filed being aggrieved by the impugned award dated 29.04.2023 passed by the First Additional Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Katghora, Katghora, District- Korba in MACT No. 73/2022. 3. By the impugned award against the claim of Rs. 42,60,000/-, the Claims Tribunal has awarded compensation of Rs. 19,40,452/-. As per pleading of the application filed under Section 166 of the MV Act, the deceased namely Manoj Kumar Yadav met with an accident on 10.03.2022 by rash and negligent driving of the offending vehicle trailor bearing registration no. CG-12-C-3011 driven by respondent no. 1, owned by respondent no. 2 and insured with respondent no. 3. As per further pleading, he was running a Dhaba and earning Rs. 15,000/- per month. 3 4. Claim application was resisted by the respondents including the insurance company taking a plea with regard to violation of insurance policy. The tribunal framed issues and decided the same in favour of the claimant by awarding compensation of Rs. 19,40,452/-. 5. The learned claims tribunal found the deceased to be aged about 30 years. His monthly income was assessed to Rs. 8,060/- being an unskilled labour. Taken into consideration the evidence available on record; four dependents including young widow of 27 years, minor child of 9 months; and parents; nature of job, minimum wages prevailing at that point of time, this Court can safely assess the monthly income of the deceased to be Rs. 11,000/- . 6. It is settled principle of law that just compensation has to be awarded. Compensation need not be a meagre amount of compensation nor a bonanza. Thus, in light of the above and taking guidance from the judgment of Hon’ble Supreme Court in the matter of National Insurance Company Ltd. V. Pranay Sethi and others; (2017) 16 SCC 680, Sarla Verma & Ors. Vs. Delhi Transport Corporation & Ors; (2009) 6 SCC 121 and Magma General Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Nanu Ram @ Chuhru Ram & Ors; (2018) 18 SCC 130, this Court is recomputing the compensation as below:- S.No. Particulars Awarded by this Court 4 1. Monthly income of deceased Rs. 11,000/- 2. Future prospects @ 40% Rs. 4,400/- 3. Enhanced monthly income Rs. 11,000 + 4,400 = Rs. 15,400/- 4. Annual income Rs. 15,400 x 12 = Rs. 1,84,800/- 5. Personal expenditure (¼) Rs. 46,200/- 6. Net income Rs. 1,38,600/- 6. Multiplier of 17 applied to assess total loss of dependency Rs. 1,38,600/- x 17 =Rs. 23,56,200/- 7. Funeral expenses Rs. 16,500/- 8. Loss of estate Rs. 16,500/- 9. Spousal consortium to appellant no. 1 Rs. 44,000/- 10. Parental consortium to appellant no. 2 Rs. 40,000/- 11. Filial loss of consortium to appellant no. 3 and 4 Rs. 40,000/- x 2 = Rs. 80,000/- 12. Total compensation Rs. 25,53,200/- 7. The amount of compensation of Rs. 19,40,452/- awarded by the Tribunal is enhanced to Rs. 25,53,200/-. Hence, after deducting the amount of Rs. 19,40,452/-, the appellants/claimants are held entitled for an additional amount of Rs. 6,12,748/-. The additional amount shall carry interest @6% per annum from the date of appeal, i.e., 31.07.2023. The impugned award stands modified to the above extent. 8. The respondent No. 3 – Insurance Company is directed to deposit the amount of compensation as enhanced by this Court within a period of sixty (60) days from today. Upon such deposit being made, a sum of Rs. 5 2.5 lakhs each shall be invested in the name of appellants No. 1,in the form of a Fixed Deposit Receipt (FDR) in any Nationalized Bank for 2 years and a sum of Rs. 2.5 lakhs each shall be invested in the name of appellants No. 2, in the form of a Fixed Deposit Receipt (FDR) in any Nationalized Bank for till the date she attains majority. .A sum of Rs. 50,000/- each shall be disbursed to appellant no. 3 and 4 by way of bank transfer/ account payee cheque. The balance amount shall be released to appellant No. 1 by way of bank transfer/account payee cheque. 9. Since no representation is made on behalf of the appellant, copy of this award be sent to the appellants. District legal aid service committee may also provide legal aid to the claimants for compliance of this award for disbursement of the award before the claims tribunal. 10. Appeal thus allowed in part. Sd/- (Sachin Singh Rajput) JUDGE Madhurima