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Sube Singh & Anr. v. Shyam Singh (Dead) & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2018 INSC 126Decided 9 Feb 2018
Civil Appeal No. 7176 of 2015
Chief Justice Dipak Misra · Justice A.M. Khanwilkar · Dr. Justice D.Y. Chandrachud

Background

A 23-year-old unmarried man, Ajit Singh, died in a motor accident in 2009. His parents, then aged 40-45, sought compensation. The Motor Accident Claims Tribunal and later the High Court of Punjab and Haryana applied a multiplier of 14 (a standard legal formula used to calculate future loss of income) based on the parents' age rather than the deceased's age, relying on an earlier two-judge Supreme Court decision. The parents appealed to the Supreme Court arguing the multiplier should have been 18, based on the deceased's own age.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the correct legal position, as settled in Sarla Verma and reaffirmed by a Constitution Bench in National Insurance Co. Ltd. vs. Pranay Sethi, is that the compensation multiplier must be chosen with reference to the age of the deceased, not the age of the dependents. Since the deceased was only 23 years old, the Court directed that multiplier 18 be applied instead of 14. The compensation was accordingly enhanced to Rs. 6,80,400 (from Rs. 5,29,200), with the interest rate also raised from 6% to 9% per annum, while other heads of compensation fixed by the High Court were left undisturbed.

Lesson Learnt

In motor accident compensation claims, the multiplier used to calculate loss of future income must be based on the age of the person who died, not the age of their surviving dependents: a settled principle citizens and claimants should be aware of when contesting compensation awards.

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

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