While dealing with an Insurance Company’s appeal, the Gujarat High Court has enhanced the motor accident compensation to over Rs 1 crore and also reiterated that there is no restriction that compensation could be awarded only up to the amount claimed by the claimant.

The High Court was considering a First Appeal under Section 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, filed by the appellant – insurance company assailing the impugned judgment and award of the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, asking the Company to pay compensation of Rs 97,07,248 to the original claimants with interest.

The Single Bench of Justice Hasmukh D. Suthar held, “It is needless to say that in view of ratio laid down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in case of Nagappa vs. Gurudayal Singh and others, reported in (2003) 2 Supreme Court Cases 274, there is no restriction that compensation could be awarded only up to the amount claimed by the claimant and in an appropriate case, where from the evidence brought on record if the Tribunal / Court considers that the claimant is entitled to get more compensation than claimed, the amount of compensation more than the claimed amount can be awarded.”

Advocate Masumi V Nanavaty represented the Appellant while Advocate Mohsin M Hakim represented the Respondent.

Factual Background

The incident dates back to the year 2016 when the deceased was driving his Motorcycle and the same dashed with the offending tanker which was parked illegally and unauthorizedly on the middle of the road without displaying any reflectors or precautionary signal during night hours. As a result, the deceased died due to the accidental injuries on the spot and original claimants – legal heirs and representatives of the deceased filed the claim petition seeking compensation of Rs.90 lakh. After considering the evidence produced on record by the respective parties, the Tribunal held the first original opponent solely negligent for the accident and awarded compensation of Rs 97,07,248 to the original claimants with 8% interest per annum. Aggrieved thereby, the appellant insurance company approached the High Court.

Reasoning

On the aspect of negligence, the Bench held that the Tribunal relying on the decisions of the Supreme Court in Bimla Devi vs. H.R.S.T.C. (2009) and Parmeshwari Devi vs. Amir Chand (2011), rightly held the driver of the offending Tanker was solely negligent for the accident. It transpired that the offending Tanker was parked illegally and unauthorizedly in the middle of the road without displaying any reflectors on the backside of the vehicle and without any precautionary signal.

The Bench stated, “Hence, present appeal fails as the learned Tribunal has properly appreciated the evidence qua negligence and perusing the evidence on record, learned Tribunal has rightly come to the conclusion that the driver of offending Tanker i.e. stationary vehicle was solely negligent for the accident and reasons assigned by the learned Tribunal does not call for any interference at the hands of this Court…”

It was noticed that while deciding the quantum, the Tribunal had relied on the evidence produced on record and concluded that the deceased was aged 35 years. The deceased was serving as a Senior Mechanical Engineer and earning a gross salary of Rs.55,000 per month. The Bench was of the view that to award just and proper compensation, basic salary, educational allowance, transport allowance, medical bills, leave travel assistance, gratuity, HRA and salary towards leave are required to be considered. The monthly salary of the deceased was re-assessed at Rs 48,624. The Bench enhanced the filial/parental consortium to Rs 1,93,600 as the deceased had four dependents.

Thus, partly allowing the appeal and modifying the impugned judgment of the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, the Bench enhanced the amount of compensation to Rs 1,07,32,684.

Cause Title: Reliance General INS Co Ltd. v. Shitalben Wd/o Jigneshkumar Parekh (Neutral Citation: 2026:GUJHC:724)

Appearance

Appellant: Advocates Masumi V Nanavaty, Vibhuti Nanavati

Defendant: Advocate Mohsin M Hakim

Click here to read/download Order


Gujarat High CourtJustice Hasmukh D. Suthar

Tulip Kanth

Assistant Editor

Tulip Kanth is an Assistant Editor at Verdictum having over 5 years of experience in the field of legal journalism and editing. She extensively covers judgments of the Supreme Court, High Courts as well as Tribunals. She has previously worked with a legal publishing website where she oversaw the work of other editors and has also created updates on notifications of different Government Ministries. She holds an English Honours Degree from SGTB Khalsa College, Delhi University and has completed her LLB course with specialisation in Corporate Law from Amity University.