Summary
The Supreme Court enhanced an injured claimant’s compensation by Rs.2,85,966 for loss of income and future income. The High Court accepted his tax return but inconsistently affirmed a lower salary-only income figure. Using the judgment’s net annual income of Rs.72,984, the Court recalculated those heads. It declined the separate car-damage claim for want of supporting expenditure documents and awarded 9% interest on the enhancement from the claim petition.
Issues
- Whether accepted tax-return income was wrongly excluded from the earnings calculation.
- Whether the unsupported claim for car damage should be allowed.
Held
- Having accepted taxable annual income of Rs.77,480 and the stated tax deduction of Rs.4,496, the High Court could not affirm the Tribunal’s Rs.44,511 salary-only figure. Income for just compensation must reflect the relevant monetary and other earning benefits, rather than exclude the other disclosed income on the approach adopted below. (¶¶ 10, 11, 12)
- The Court used Rs.72,984 net annual income, yielding Rs.66,902 for eleven months’ lost earnings. Its future-income calculation applied 40% of that annual amount and multiplier fifteen, yielding Rs.4,37,910. Replacing the previous awards under those two heads produced an additional Rs.2,85,966. (¶¶ 12, 13)
- Although the Tribunal had not analysed the car-damage claim, the claimant identified no supporting document for the claimed Rs.80,000 repair expenditure before either appellate court. The High Court’s rejection of that claim was therefore left undisturbed. (¶ 14)
- The additional compensation carried interest at 9% per annum from filing of the claim petition before the Tribunal until realisation. The appeal succeeded only to that limited extent. (¶¶ 15, 16)
Result
Appeals allowed to the limited extent of additional compensation of Rs.2,85,966 with 9% annual interest from the claim petition until realisation, without costs. Car-damage claim rejected.