Telangana HC orders 10 times more compensation to accident victim's family

HYDERABAD: Finding fault with a civil court in Hyderabad which apportioned a part of the blame on the deceased himself in a road accident case and awarded a mere Rs 1.78 lakh as compensation to his wife and three children,

Justice T Amarnath Goud

of the

Telangana high court

has enhanced the compensation to Rs 17.74 lakh and directed the insurance company officials to pay it with 7.5 percent interest per year from the date of the accident in 2004. This would give the family the much-needed relief as they would now, hopefully, get ten times more compensation than the one granted by the trial court and also, interest for the last 15 years.


On October 10, 2004,

B Krishnaiah

was coming to Hyderabad from Mahabubnagar on a motorbike along with his friend. When they reached Kundurg village, a jeep came in high speed and hit their motorbike. Krishnaiah suffered severe injuries. He was shifted to

Osmania General Hospital

in Hyderabad where he succumbed to the injuries while undergoing treatment. His wife and three children were rendered helpless on account of the ghastly accident which took away their sole breadwinner. They sought Rs 15 lakh as compensation for the loss.

The trial court in its judgment gave reasoning that Krishnaiah was a pillion rider on that fateful day. The man who drove the bike was not examined at all. The trial court concluded that the bike rider had possessed no valid driving license. Hence the drivers of both the jeep and the bike should bear the blame in equal measure. Hence the insurance company’s liability to compensate for the death of an individual was reduced to 50 percent. The trial court finally ordered the insurance company to pay Rs 1.78 lakh to the kin of the deceased.

Aggrieved by this order, the wife and kin of the victim filed an appeal in the high court challenging the trial court order. Their counsel

B Roja Ramani

described the order of the trial court, particularly in holding the deceased as partly responsible for his death, as erroneous and bad in law. Merely because the driver of the bike was not holding a driving license, he cannot be held liable for contributory negligence, she said. The trial court committed another error even in calculating the number of dependents. The number of dependents is four and the trial court based its calculations on three dependents, she said.

Setting aside the trial court order, Justice Amarnath cited a Supreme Court order that held that a scooter rider cannot be held guilty of contributory negligence merely because he was not possessing a driving license. He also calculated and arrived at Rs 17.74 lakh compensation to be paid to the family taking into various aspects like future prospects, the appropriate multiplier, the age of the deceased at the time of his death, loss to the dependents, etc.