Teacher’s family gets Rs 13.8 lakh more after HC overturns age-based compensation cut

NEW DELHI: The Calcutta high court has enhanced compensation awarded to the family of a man who died in a road accident, ruling that a scientific assessment in a post-mortem report cannot be replaced by assumptions about the victim's age.The case involved Durga Prasad Sharma, a primary school teacher from Sikkim working under the state's Human Resources Department, who died in a motor accident on October 18, 2013.His widow along with other legal heirs approached the high court seeking higher compensation after the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, in its 2019 order, had awarded Rs 6 lakhs, as per a report by LiveLaw.The tribunal said that Sharma's age at the time of death was at least 60 years, because he was receiving pension, and applied a lower multiplier of 5 while calculating compensation.

However, the family argued that the post-mortem report recorded his age as 50 years and that the multiplier should have been 13 instead, and that the Tribunal had wrongly relied on assumptions instead of medical evidence.Justice Aniruddha Roy of the Calcutta high court held that the post-mortem report should have been considered, which showed the deceased's age as 50 years, and further added that the report was based on expert opinion and should have been given more importance.

"The P.M. report should be taken as a conclusive and decisive evidence... which shows that as on the date of the death the deceased was aged 50 years," the court added.On the pension issue, the court found that neither side had clear proof of the deceased's actual age at death. The insurance company couldn't prove he was 60, and the family couldn't prove he had retired early. Since there was no clear answer either way, the court decided the post-mortem report (which said he was 50) should be treated as the deciding evidence.The court also ruled that the family should not be denied "future prospects" compensation (extra money for expected future income growth) just because they were receiving a family pension.The court further set aside the amounts the tribunal had awarded for loss of estate, funeral expenses, and loss of consortium, directing these to be recalculated as per standardized rates.Finally, the court ordered the insurance company to pay an extra Rs 13,80,404 — based on the family's own calculation using a multiplier of 13 — along with 6 per cent yearly interest starting from March 14, 2016 (when the claim was first filed), to be paid within six weeks.