The Delhi High Court has enhanced the compensation amount by Rs. 65,09,779 awarded to a woman who met with a debilitating motor-vehicular accident rendering her wheelchair-bound for the rest of her life.

The Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal (‘MACT’) had awarded her a compensation of Rs.47,49,610 which came to be enhanced by the Court whereby the total compensation awarded to the woman came to be Rs.1,12,59,389.

The bench of Justice Najmi Waziri noted that when the woman was a 14 year old adolescent, enjoying all the fun of a school-going girl of her age, till the fateful afternoon of December 1, 2007 when returning from school, she met with a debilitating motor-vehicular accident.

The Court observed that as per the medical opinion the woman suffers from 100% functional disability and that her medical condition is even more aggravated because she has virtually no control of her bladder and bowel movements.

“She will require regular suppositories for bowel movements, regular exercise, regular urine evaluation for culture and evaluation of kidney function to exclude any renal failure. Since she is debilitated below the stomach, she would need diapers all the time and bowel monitoring, to ensure that she remains continent i.e. there is no leakage of bowel from the rectum”, the Court noted.

Advocate Saurabh Kansal appeared for the claimant whereas Advocates A.K. Soni,Tarun Johri, Rikky Gupta and Harshit Goel appeared for Respondents.

The Court awarded compensation towards ‘medical and sanitary expenses’ of Rs.10,80,000. On the expenses towards attendants, the Court noted that the Rs.30,000/- per annum awarded by the MACT might have been sufficient when the order was first passed in 2011 but in the present no attendant would be available for Rs.30,000/- per annum for a daily 12 hour shift. Thus the Court enhanced the compensation amount to Rs. 27,85,536.

Also, the Court awarded an amount of Rs.24,84,000/- towards to the victim-woman. The Court held that she is entitled to and is awarded Rs.3,00,000/- towards ‘loss of marriage prospects’. The Court raised the compensation for special diet to Rs.6,51,600/-.

Thus the total compensation awarded to the victim-woman is Rs.1,12,59,389/- payable @7.5% p.a.

"The award is enhanced by Rs.65,09,779/-. The total compensation awarded to the appellant-Jyoti Singh is Rs.1,12,59,389/- payable @7.5% p.a. w.e.f. 10.03.2008 i.e. the date of filing of the claim petition before the MACT, till its realization. An amount of Rs.5,80,093/- has already been paid towards ‘medical expenses’. The enhanced amount be paid to her in eight weeks", the Court ordered.

Cause Title- Jyoti Singh v. Nand Kishore & Ors. (Neutral Citation No. 2023:DHC:2569)

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Delhi High CourtJustice Najmi WaziriMotor Accident Case

Ashish Shaji