1 2026:CGHC:26653 NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR MAC No. 258 of 2018 1 - Smt. Ganga Sahu W/o W/o Late Bhushan Sahu Aged About 22 Years R/o Village- Daldal Shivani Ward No. 25 Post Saddu Thana Pandri Mowa District- Raipur, Chhattisgarh. 2 - Rakesh Sahu Aged About 02 Years S/o Late Bhushan Sahu. Minor Through His Legal Guardian Mother Smt. Ganga Sah R/o Village- Daldal Shivani Ward No. 25 Post Saddu Thana Pandri Mowa District- Raipur, Chhattisgarh. 3 - Smt. Kunti Sahu W/o W/o Kunjlal @ Pappu Sahu Aged About 42 Years R/o Village- Daldal Shivani Ward No. 25 Post Saddu Thana Pandri Mowa District- Raipur, Chhattisgarh. 4 - Kunjlal @ Pappu Sahu S/o S/o Late Khorbahara Sahu Aged About 45 Years R/o Village- Daldal Shivani Ward No. 25 Post Saddu Thana Pandri Mowa District- Raipur, Chhattisgarh.,..................(Claimants). ... Appellants versus 1 - (Deleted) Santosh Yadav As Per Honble Court Order Dated 14-05-2026 2 - Shivram Sahu S/o S/o Shankar Lal Sahu Aged About 53 Years R/o Village Jewara Sirsa Thana Pulgaon District- Durg, Chhattisgarh. ................(Owner of The Offending Vehicle Truck No. CG. 07/ C. A. / 7911). .............(Owner). 3 - The National Insurance Company Limited, Branch Manager, Address- Mobin Mahal G. E. Road Raipur, Chhattisgarh. ..................((Insurer of The ALLENA ANNAJEE RAO Digitally signed by ALLENA ANNAJEE RAO Date: 2026.07.01 14:06:41 +0530 2 Offending Vehicle Truck No. CG. 07/ C.A. / 7911). ..........(Insurer). ... Respondent(s) For the appellants : Mr. Arjun Lal Singroul, Advocate For Respondent no.3 : Mr. R.N. Pusty, Advocate with Mr. Akash Shrivastava, Advocate. (Hon’ble Shri Justice Sanjay Kumar Jaiswal) Judgment on Board 30/ 6 /2026 1. This appeal under Section 173 of Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (for short “MV Act”) has been filed challenging the award dated 06.10.2017 passed by the learned VI Additional Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Raipur Chhattisgarh, in Claim Case No.623/2016. By the impugned award, the learned Tribunal has awarded Rs. 11,17,000/- as compensation to the claimants due to death of deceased. The said vehicle was owned by respondent no. 2 and insured with respondent no.3 /Insurance company. 2. The gist of the claim before the Tribunal, in brief, was that on 02.02.2015 deceased Bhushan Sahu was driving his own motorcycle No. CG.04/KR/1374 along-with pillion rider Dayaram. They were going to wards Arang from village Daldalsivni. When they reached near Chawla Petrol Pump at around 7.00 p.m., the offending Truck No. CG- 07/CA/7911 driven by respondent No.1 in rash and negligent way hit the motorcycle of deceased from behind, as a result of which, deceased suffered grievous injuries on his head and other parts of the body, due 3 to which he died on the spot. It is claimed that at the time of accident, deceased was aged about 25 years. He was working as a Head Mistry and was earning Rs. 400/- per . Due to the untimely death of deceased, there is an irreparable loss to the appellants/claimants who are the legal heirs of the deceased. Therefore, the claimants had preferred the application under Section 166 of M.V. Act before the Tribunal claiming total compensation of Rs.27,50,000/-. 3. The learned claims Tribunal on a close scrutiny of the evidence brought on record and the pleadings made in application, took the monthly income of deceased as Rs.6000/- and worked-out the annual income to be Rs.72,000/-, deducted 1/4th towards personal expenses and applied multiplier of 18. Further more, Rs.1,45,000/- has been awarded on other heads ( i.e., Rs.1,10,000/- towards loss of consortium for four claimants; Rs.25,000/- for funeral expenses and Rs.10,000 for loss of estate). Thus a total compensation of Rs. 11,17,000/- has been awarded in favour of the appellants with interest @ 7.5% per annum from the date of application till its realisation. 4. Learned counsel for the appellant/claimants submits that the compensation awarded by the Claims Tribunal is on the lower side and needs to be enhanced suitably. He contends that the Tribunal has taken lesser income of the deceased and did not add future prospects to the actual income of the deceased thereby just compensation has not been awarded. He further submits that the amounts awarded on other heads is also meagre, therefore, this appeal may be allowed and amount of compensation may justly be enhanced. 4 5. On the other hand, learned counsel for the Insurance Company/ Non-applicant No.3 has argued that the Claims Tribunal after appreciating oral and documentary evidence available on record rightly awarded the compensation amount which needs no interference. However, he submits that higher sum of Rs.25,000/- has been granted for funeral expenses instead of Rs.15,000/-. 6. Heard counsel for the parties and perused the documents available on record. 7. Now this Court shall examine as to whether the compensation of awarded by the tribunal is just and proper in the given facts and circumstances of the case. 8. As regards the income of deceased, the claimants have pleaded that the deceased was earning Rs.400/- per day by working as head Mistry but no documentary evidence in support thereof has been produced. However, this does not mean that the deceased was not at all earning anything from his work. Therefore in absence of any reliable evidence regarding income of deceased and keeping in mind the nature of occupation, the Tribunal has rightly taken the income of deceased as Rs.6000/- per month which cannot be said to be on lower side. Thus the annual incomes comes to Rs.72,000- per annum. So far as future prospects is concerned, the Tribunal has not granted any sum. In view of the decision of the Supreme Court in National Insurance Company Ltd., Vs. Pranay Sethi (2017) 16 SCC 680, looking to the age of the applicant the Tribunal ought to have granted 40% future prospects. Therefore, after adding 40% towards future prospects i.e.,28,800/- the 5 annual income would come to Rs.1,00,800/-. 9. There are total 4 claimants in this case including widow, minor son and parents of the deceased. So the deduction towards personal expenses would be 1/4 which comes to Rs. 25,200/-. Thus the annual dependency would be Rs,75,600/- (100800 minus 25200). In view of judgment of the Hon’ble Suprme Court in Sarla Verma (Smt) Vs. Delhi Transport Corporation (2009) 6 SCC l2l and National Insurance Company Ltd., Vs. Pranay Sethi (2017) 16 SCC 680 considering the age of deceased, multiplier 18 would be applicable in this case. Thus by adopting the multiplier of 18 the total loss of dependency is worked out to Rs. 13,60,800/- (75600 x 18). Under the other heads, the claimants are further entitled to get reasonable amounts of Rs.15,000/- for loss of estate and Rs.15,000/- for funeral expenses. Further, as per the decision of Supreme Court in Magma General Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Nanu Ram Alias Chuhru Ram (AIR 2018 SC 2782), each dependent/claimant is entitled to get Rs.40,000/- for loss of love and affection which makes a total of Rs.1,60,000/- for four claimants. Thus this Court is recomputing the compensation in the following manner : 1. Total loss of dependency Rs. 13,60,800/- 2. Loss of estate as against Rs.10,000 granted by Tribunal Rs. 15,000/- 3. Funeral Expenses as against Rs.25,000/- granted by Tribunal Rs. 15,000/- 4. Loss of love and affection (40,000 x 4) Rs. 1,60,000/- Total Rs.15,50,800/- 6 10. Thus the total compensation is recomputed to Rs.15,50,800/- from which after deduction of Rs. 11,17,000/-- as awarded by the Tribunal, the enhancement would be Rs.4,33,800/- which the claimants are entitled to receive in addition to what is already awarded by the Claims Tribunal. The enhanced amount shall carry interest @ 6% per annum from the date of enhancement of the award till its realisation. 11. In the result, the appeal is partly allowed. The impugned award stands modified to the above extent and rest of the conditions shall remain intact. 12. The Registry is further directed to communicate the claimants in writing “the enhanced amount” in this appeal as against the amount awarded by the Tribunal. The said communication be made in Hindi Deonagri language and the help of para-legal workers may be availed with a co-ordination of Secretary, Legal Aid of the concerned area where the claimants reside. Sd/- Sanjay Kumar Jaiswal Judge Rao