The Supreme Court awarded enhanced compensation for the death of a mechanical engineer in a motor accident case and reiterated that the determination of income can proceed on the basis of Income Tax Return when the same is available on record.

The Appeal before the Apex Court was directed against the judgment of the Karnataka High Court pertaining to a motor accident case.

The Division Bench of Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Manmohan asserted, “We are unable to agree with the view taken by the Tribunal and High Court on the income of the deceased.”

Advocate Manjunath Meled represented the Appellants while Advocate Manu Luv Shahalia represented the Respondents.

Factual Background

The incident is of the year 2012, when the deceased, Vivekananda Shenoy, aged 47 years, was travelling on his motorcycle from Kavoor towards his house. At Kottara Cross, the offending bus collided with the deceased in a rash and negligent manner. Thereafter, he was taken to a Hospital where he succumbed to the injuries. A claim petition was filed by the Appellant (wife of the deceased) before the Tribunal seeking compensation to the tune of Rs.1,00,00,000 submitting therein that the deceased was the only earning member of the family, being a Mechanical Engineer by profession and earning up to Rs.5,00,000 per annum as per his Income Tax Returns.

The Tribunal awarded the Appellants an amount of Rs.13,91,300 along with interest taking the deceased's income as Rs.90,000 per annum. The Appellant’s appeal was dismissed by the High Court and the Income Tax Returns weren’t accepted as proof of income. Aggrieved thereby, the appellant approached the Apex Court.

Reasoning

Showing its disagreement with the view taken by the High Court and the Tribunal, the Bench said, “It has been clarified in Malarvizhi & Ors. v. United India Insurance Co. Ltd. & Ors. that the determination of income must proceed on the basis of Income Tax Return when available, being a statutory document.”

Reliance was also placed upon the latest judgment in New India Assurance Co. Ltd. v. Sonigra Juhi Uttamchand (2025) wherein it has been observed that monthly income could be fixed taking into account the tax returns only if the details of payment of tax are appropriately brought into evidence so as to enable the Tribunal/Court to calculate the income in accordance with law.

Thus, on a perusal of the Income Tax Return of the deceased for the Financial Year 2012-2013, the Bench noted that his gross total income was seen to be Rs 1,98,192/- per annum. “In the light of the above expositions of law, his income is, therefore, fixed at Rs.1,98,192/- per annum”, it held. Thus, allowing the Appeal, the Bench granted the enhanced compensation of Rs 24,53,280 to the appellants.

Cause Title: Vijayalaxmi @ Roopa V. Shenoy & Anr. v. National Insurance Co. Ltd. & Ors. (Neutral Citation: 2025 INSC 186)

Appearance:

Appellants: Advocates Manjunath Meled, Vijayalaxmi Udapudi, AOR Ganesh Kumar R.

Respondents: Advocate Manu Luv Shahalia, AOR Manjeet Chawla, Advocates Manek Sharma, Abid Ali

Click here to read/download Judgment


Supeme CourtJustice Sanjay KarolJustice ManmohanMotor Accident ClaimIncome Tax

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.