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Sarnam Singh vs. Shriram General Insurance Co. Ltd. & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2023 INSC 597Decided 4 Jul 2023
Civil Appeal No. 3900 of 2023
Abhay S. Oka · Rajesh Bindal · Hima Kohli on the bench

Background

The appellant, working as a gunman with a hotel company on a monthly salary, met with an accident in 2013 that led to amputation of his right lower limb (85% physical disability), and he was subsequently terminated from his job because he could no longer perform his duties. The Motor Accident Claims Tribunal awarded compensation treating his loss of earning capacity as 100%. The Delhi High Court, while not disturbing any other finding, reduced this to 80% loss of earning capacity, lowering the compensation.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that functional disability for compensation purposes must be assessed in light of the specific job the claimant performed, not just a flat medical disability percentage: the same injury can end one person's livelihood while barely affecting another's, depending on the nature of their work. Since a gunman cannot perform his duties after losing a leg, the Tribunal was correct to treat his loss of earning capacity as 100%, relying on this Court's earlier ruling in Mohan Soni v. Ram Avtar Tomar. The Court also found and corrected an arithmetic error in the High Court's calculation of the base compensation figure. The appeal was allowed, the High Court's order was set aside, and the Tribunal's original award was restored in full.

Lesson Learnt

In motor accident claims, the correct measure of "loss of earning capacity" is how the disability affects the claimant's ability to do the specific job they held, not a generic physical-disability percentage from a medical certificate.

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

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