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Nur Ahamad Abdulsab Kanavi v. Abdul Munaf

Civil Appeal · 2025 INSC 191Decided 11 Feb 2025
Civil Appeal No. 2322 of 2025 (arising from SLP(C) No. 21766 of 2024)
Justice Sanjay Karol · Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra

Background

The 27-year-old claimant-appellant was struck by a rashly driven goods vehicle while riding his motorcycle in 2014, sustaining injuries that left him bedridden in hospital for two months. The Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) assessed his disability at 20% and his monthly income at ₹7,500, awarding ₹6,78,000. The Karnataka High Court enhanced his disability to 100% and the compensation to about ₹25.69 lakh, but kept his monthly income at the same ₹7,500 figure. He appealed further, arguing his real income was ₹10,000 per month.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court accepted the oral testimony of the claimant's wife (PW-1) as reliable evidence of his actual income in the absence of documentary proof, relying on its own precedent in Chandra v. Mukesh Kumar Yadav that allows such oral evidence to establish income. It recalculated the entire compensation using the monthly income of ₹10,000, applying the standard formula from National Insurance Co. v. Pranay Sethi (including a 40% future-prospects addition and a multiplier of 17), along with awards for medical expenses, attendant charges, pain and suffering, and loss of amenities. This raised the total compensation to ₹37,51,000, and the appeal was allowed in these terms.

Lesson Learnt

When an accident victim has no documentary proof of income, credible oral testimony from a family member can be relied upon by courts to fix a fair and realistic compensation amount.

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

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