The Supreme Court has restored the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal’s award of Rs 8.55 lakh to the parents of a 10-year-old boy, who died after being hit by a Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation bus.
The incident took place when the child was going to school on his cycle.
The Tribunal had fixed the boy’s notional monthly income at Rs 5,000, applied a multiplier of 18, and made deductions for personal expenses, also awarding amounts for love and affection, funeral expenses, transportation, and loss of dress, ornaments, and cycle.
The matter then reached the Madras High Court, which reduced the income assessment by adopting Rs 30,000 annually as per Schedule II of the Motor Vehicles Act. It applied a lower multiplier of 15 based on the mother’s age, and deleted certain heads of compensation, cutting the total to Rs 5.8 lakh.
The Apex Court held that Schedule II applied only to no-fault liability claims under Section 163A, not negligence-based claims under Section 166.
The Bench, presided over by Justice K Vinod Chandran, found no basis for the High Court’s deviation from the Tribunal’s method or deletion of certain awards.
While the top court of the country calculated that a just compensation could amount to Rs 8.7 lakh, it restored the Tribunal’s original award since the parents had not appealed for enhancement.
It directed the transport corporation to pay the amount, after adjusting sums already paid, within a month, along with applicable interest.