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Chandra @ Chanda @ Chandraram v. Mukesh Kumar Yadav

Civil Appeal · 2021 INSC 593Decided 1 Oct 2021
Civil Appeal No. 6152 of 2021
Justice R. Subhash Reddy · Justice Hrishikesh Roy

Background

An elderly couple lost their 32-year-old son, a truck driver, when another truck travelling on the wrong side rammed into his vehicle. The parents, along with the deceased's wife, minor son, brother and sister, sought compensation of over Rs. 93 lakhs, but the Tribunal awarded only about Rs. 11 lakhs, calculating the deceased's income at the bare minimum wage for skilled labour and finding that the parents, who lived separately, were not "dependents" entitled to compensation. Only the parents appealed, but the High Court dismissed their appeal without properly examining their grounds.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that while there was no salary certificate on record, the Tribunal was wrong to default to the lowest minimum-wage tier when the deceased's wife had given uncontradicted oral testimony that he earned Rs. 15,000 per month as a licensed heavy-vehicle driver; some reasoned estimation grounded in reality was required instead. The Court fixed his income at Rs. 8,000 per month, applied a 40% addition for future prospects and a multiplier of 16, and held, relying on its own precedent in Sarla Verma and Magma General Insurance, that parents are indeed entitled to be treated as dependents and to claim "loss of consortium," rejecting the Tribunal's contrary finding. The appeal was partly allowed, enhancing the total compensation payable to the parents to Rs. 4,13,964 with 6% interest.

Lesson Learnt

Parents of a deceased accident victim are legally recognised dependents entitled to compensation and consortium regardless of whether they lived with their child, and courts can rely on credible oral testimony about income, not only documentary salary proof, to fix fair compensation.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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