Paramjeet Kaur And ANR. v. Sanjay Kumar And ORS.

IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT

CHANDIGARH Date of decision: April 16th, 2026 Paramjeet Kaur and another ...Appellants

Versus

Sanjay Kumar and others

...Respondents

CORAM:

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE VIKAS BAHL

Present:

Mr. Tarun Sharma, Advocate for the appellants.

Mr. Punit Jain, Advocate for respondent No.3.

VIKAS BAHL, J. (ORAL) 1.

Parents of deceased-Rawal Kumar @ Rahul have filed the present appeal for enhancement of compensation. The Tribunal vide award dated 10.10.2022 had awarded an amount of 22,47,654/- as compensation along with interest to the claimants on account of death of said Rawal Kumar @ Rahul, who had admittedly died in a motor vehicular accident which had taken place on 25.12.2018. The only issue that arises in the present appeal is whether the appellants are entitled to enhancement of compensation, as the other aspects have not been disputed before this Court. 2.

Learned counsel for the appellants has submitted that in the present case, there are three claimants and each of the claimant should have been awarded an amount of 48,000/- each on account of loss of consortium after taking into consideration the 10% increase, whereas the three claimants have been awarded only an amount of 44,000/- each. It is submitted that on

the said aspect, an additional amount of 12,000/- should be granted to the appellants. It is further submitted that on account of funeral expenses and loss of estate, an amount of 16,500/- each has been granted instead of 18,000/- each and thus, an additional compensation of 3,000/- should be granted. It is further argued that interest at the rate of 9% be granted on the said additional amount. In support of his arguments, learned counsel for the appellants has relied upon the law laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in case titled as Magma General Insurance Company Limited Vs. Nanu Ram alias Chuhru Ram and others reported as (2018) 18 SCC 130. 3.

This Court has heard the learned counsel for the parties and has perused the paper book and is of the opinion that the amount as sought by the appellants should be granted to the appellants. 4.

Instead of granting 48,000/- on account of loss of consortium to each of the three claimants, only an amount of 44,000/- each has been granted and thus, the appellants are entitled to 12,000/- as additional compensation on the said account. As per settled law, on account of funeral expenses and loss of estate, the amount to which the present appellants are entitled to is 18,000/- each, whereas the appellants have been awarded 16,500/- each and thus, an additional amount of 3,000/- is also required to be awarded to the appellants. Accordingly, the total compensation to which the appellants are entitled to is 15,000/-. The Tribunal has awarded interest at the rate of 8% per annum and this Court finds that even in the present case, the said rate of interest should be granted to the appellants who are old parents of the deceased.

5.

Keeping in view the abovesaid facts and circumstances, the present appeal is partly allowed and the award dated 10.10.2022 passed by the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal is modified and the present appellants are held entitled to an additional compensation of 15,000/- along with interest at the rate of 8% per annum from the date of filing of the claim petition till its realisation and respondent No.3 is directed to make the payment to the appellants in the name of the appellants in equal shares within a period of six weeks from today.

April 16th, 2026 (VIKAS BAHL) Puneet JUDGE Whether speaking/reasoned:

Yes Whether reportable:

No