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Udayvir Singh Meena vs. Bharti AXA Gen Ins Co Ltd & Ors.

Motor Accident Claims Appeal · 2026:DHC:7841Decided 15 Sept 2026New Delhi Bench
MAC.APP. 156/2014CNR: DLHC010138922014
Justice Anish Dayal

Background

In 2011, the appellant, a Uttar Pradesh Police constable, suffered a crush injury to his right hand (79% permanent disability, with two fingers amputated) after being hit by a rashly driven vehicle while standing near a police patrol car. The Motor Accident Claims Tribunal had awarded him about Rs. 5.77 lakh but gave nothing for loss of future earnings after retirement. He appealed for enhancement, but died in 2019 during the appeal (unrelated to the accident), and his legal heirs continued the case.

Decision Breakdown

The High Court held that the claim survives his death and can be pursued by his heirs, since it concerns loss to his "estate" (lost income, medical costs) rather than purely personal injury like pain and suffering. It rejected the insurer's argument that only one year's post-retirement loss should be paid (since he died a year after retirement), holding that the standard "multiplier" method, a fixed formula based on age at time of injury, not actual lifespan, must be used for consistency, and this multiplier is 9 for someone due to retire at 60. Assessing his functional disability at 50% (accounting for how the injury would affect his ability to find work after retiring from active police duty), the Court enhanced the compensation by about Rs. 16.4 lakh.

Lesson Learnt

In accident compensation cases, an injured person's later death (for reasons unrelated to the accident) does not wipe out the claim, it passes to their family, and compensation for future earning loss is calculated using a standard formula, not by simply counting how many years the person actually lived afterward.

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