Gujarat High Court: The Division Judge Bench of Akil Kureshi and BN Karia, JJ., addressed an appeal filed by the respondent company, challenging the judgment passed by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal.
The respondent had gone through an accident because of which he had received some bodily injuries. The vehicle of the respondent was insured by the insurance company. The overall impact of disability was assessed to be 41% of the whole body.
The main dispute that arose was regarding the amount of compensation that was to be given as loss of amenities. It was contended by the Tribunal that the award of loss of income was basically in disguise of loss of amenities relating the same to the disability percentage of the salary of the injured. And since the income of the deceased remained the same despite injuries, loss of earning capacity cannot be claimed.
It was held that since a government employee may not immediately either lose the job or suffer reduction in salary and that per se would not imply that injury has not affected the earning capacity of the sufferer. Thus the award granted to the petitioner would be a modest sum for loss of amenities of life, the appeal disposed of accordingly.[New India Assurance Co. Ltd v. Dominic Sebastian Vezhuvalil,2018 SCC OnLine Guj 1307, Order dated 02-08-2018]
