Allahabad High Court: MACT Can’t Rely On Salary Slip Of A Son Appointed On Compassionate Grounds After Father's Death To Calculate Compensation
The Allahabad High Court held that the analogy adopted by the Tribunal in order to arrive at the salary of the deceased was not ‘legally sustainable.’
Justice Abdul Moin, Allahabad High Court
The Allahabad High Court held that MACT cannot rely on the salary slip of a son, appointed on compassionate grounds after his father's death, to calculate compensation.
The claimants challenged the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal's (MACT) decision. The MACT had awarded compensation for the deceased's death based on the salary slips of his son, who received a compassionate appointment. The claimants argued that the MACT wrongly disregarded the deceased's own salary slip (as a Junior Engineer in U.P. Power Corporation) because it wasn't proven. Instead, the MACT relied on the son's salary slip due to his compassionate appointment after his father's death.
A Single Bench of Justice Abdul Moin explained, “The analogy adopted by the learned Tribunal in order to arrive at the salary of the deceased is not found to be legally sustainable in any view of the matter inasmuch as the deceased, who was aged about 54 years, was at the fag end of his service while his son has only been appointed on account of the death of Shri Pradeep Kumar Srivastava (deceased) and was an infant in the service and by no stretch of imagination could the salary of a young employee, the son of the deceased, would be comparable with the salary of an officer who was at the fag end of his service.”
Advocate J.B. Singh appeared for the Appellant, while Advocate Vivek Kumar Pandey represented the Respondents.
Brief Facts
The deceased victim had allegedly died in an accident involving a bus operated by the Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC), which denied the incident, arguing that the bus was not operating on the route where the accident occurred and therefore, they could not have been involved.
Court’s Reasoning
The High Court noted, “The learned Tribunal adopted a strange procedure thereafter inasmuch as it has placed reliance on the salary slip of the son of the deceased who had been appointed on compassionate grounds. On the basis of deceased's son's salary slip, the learned Tribunal has opined that the salary of the deceased would be Rs.20,000/- and thereafter, the learned Tribunal has proceeded to award the compensation.”
The Bench held, “Thus, the award of compensation by the learned Tribunal on the basis of the salary of the son of the deceased is not found to be legally sustainable in the eyes of law.”
Consequently, the Court ordered, “Accordingly, the case is remitted to the learned Tribunal to consider the award of compensation in accordance with law. As the claim application is of the year 2009 and a substantial period has already lapsed, as such, the learned Tribunal is directed to decide the said claim application pertaining to award of compensation in accordance with law and the relevant rules within a period of six months from the date a certified copy of this order is brought on record of the learned Tribunal.”
Accordingly, the High Court disposed of the Appeal.
Cause Title: Uttar Pradesh State Rd. Transport Corp. Faizabad v. Meena Srivastava & Ors. (Neutral Citation: 2025:AHC-LKO:20066)
Appearance:
Appellant: Advocates J.B. Singh and Akhilesh Kumar Srivastava
Respondents: Advocates Vivek Kumar Pandey, Amit Tripathi, M.A.Siddiqui and Rakesh Kumar Srivastava