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Ramar vs. Divisional Manager, National Insurance Company Limited

Not available · 2025 INSC 1218Decided 26 Sept 2025
Not available
Justice K. Vinod Chandran · Justice N.V. Anjaria

Background

The appellant was standing by the roadside in 2013 when a rashly driven lorry hit him, resulting in amputation of his right leg and paralysis of his left leg: a 100% functional disability, confirmed by treating doctors. The Tribunal awarded about Rs. 17,16,000 for loss of income (based on a monthly income of Rs. 11,000) with a total compensation of over Rs. 31 lakh, but the High Court substantially cut this down, reducing the assessed income to Rs. 6,500/month and the total award to about Rs. 20.65 lakh.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court restored the Tribunal's income assessment of Rs. 11,000 per month, finding that the High Court had wrongly relied on an older, factually different precedent (involving no income evidence at all) instead of the direct oral testimony of two co-workers who credibly described the claimant's daily wages as a loading-unloading worker. The Court also revised the attendant charges upward to Rs. 3,00,000, given the claimant's total loss of use of both legs, while leaving the High Court's other compensation heads undisturbed. However, since the claimant himself had not appealed the Tribunal's denial of "future prospects," he could not claim that benefit at this stage. The net result was a partial restoration raising the total award to Rs. 24,86,500.

Lesson Learnt

When credible, specific witness testimony about a victim's actual earnings exists, courts should not substitute it with income figures borrowed from unrelated older cases; and compensation for essential care like an attendant must be realistically assessed against the severity of disability, not treated as a token amount.

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

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