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Amarjit Singh & Ors vs. National Ins. Co. Ltd & Ors.

Motor Accident Claims Appeal · 2026:DHC:7591Decided 7 Sept 2026New Delhi Bench
MAC.APP. 27/2014CNR: DLHC010007932014
Justice Anish Dayal

Background

The deceased, a young HPCL employee, died in a 2009 road accident when a rashly-driven truck struck him at HPCL's gate. The Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) had awarded his parents about Rs 19.36 lakh in compensation in 2013. The appellants (his parents) appealed to the High Court seeking a higher multiplier, a higher assumed income, and additional heads of compensation.

Decision Breakdown

The Court held the multiplier should be based on the deceased's own age (24) rather than his mother's age, raising it from 11 to 18, in line with Supreme Court precedent (Sarla Verma, Pranay Sethi). It rejected including a speculative future pay-hike the deceased had not yet actually qualified for, upheld the actual salary figure used by the Tribunal, added compensation for loss of consortium, and corrected a tax-calculation error the Tribunal had made. Net result: total compensation was enhanced from about Rs 19.36 lakh to about Rs 48.08 lakh, with 9% interest, to be paid as a lump sum given the 17-year delay since the accident.

Lesson Learnt

Courts calculate a deceased accident victim's compensation using the victim's own age at the time of death (not a dependent's age) for the multiplier, and speculative future income increases cannot be assumed unless the employee had already actually qualified for them.

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