IMPORTANT POINT
The court established that proper evidence is crucial in determining compensation for personal injuries, and that established legal principles must be applied to ensure just compensation, including consideration of future loss of income and medical expenses.

JUDGMENT/ORDER

1. The appellant i.e. original claimant, is seeking enhancement of the compensation granted to him by the Motor Accident Claim Tribunal, Dhule (hereinafter referred to as the learned Tribunal) under the judgment and award dated 22/06/2004 in MACP No.167 of 2000.

2. This is an injury claim and the claimant has got injured in the accident between ST bus bearing registration No. MH-20-D- 3082 and Tanker bearing registration No. MH-18/A-7049 on 04/12/1999 at about 10.30 a.m. on Mumbai-Agra National Highway in the vicinity of village Chikhalohod. The appellant was occupant of the aforesaid ST bus and the accident caused due to negligence of driver of the aforesaid tanker. Since the present appeal is only challenging the quantum of compensation awarded by the learned Tribunal, I restrict my fnding only to that extent.

3. The learned Tribunal has granted compensation of Rs.47, 000/- only to the appellant on account of injury sustained by him and the medical expenditure incurred by him. However, there is no bifurcation given by the learned Tribunal under which heads the amount of Rs.40, 000/- out of total compensation has been awarded.

4. Heard rival submissions and also perused the impugned judgment and award alongwith the original record and proceedings of MACP No. 167 of 2000.

5. The learned counsel for the appellant vehemently argued that the learned Tribunal has miserably failed to appreciate the evidence on record and has granted meager amount of compensation by ignoring the fact that the appellant had incurred medical expenses of Rs.47, 000/- and suffered from permanent disability to the extent of 40%. He pointed out that the learned Tribunal did not consider the future loss of income relating to his permanent disability. He also submitted that the learned Tribunal did not consider appropriate multiplier to the age group of the appellant. In support of the submission, he relied on following judgments.

1. Raj Kumar vs. Ajay Kumar and another, (2011) 1 SCC 343;

2. Erudhaya Priya vs. State Express Transport Corporation Ltd., 2020 SCC OnLine SC 601 and

3. National Insurance Company Limited vs. Pranay Sethi and others, (2017) 16 SCC 680.

4. Kirti and another vs. Oriental Insurance Company Limited, (2021) 2 SCC 166 and

5. Sou. Santoshi Lakhimchand Agrawal (died) through L.Rs. in First appeal No.171 of 2002 decided on 07/01/2023 by this court.

6. On the contrary, the learned counsel for respondent No.2 - insurance company supported the judgment of the learned Tribunal by opposing the submissions made on behalf of appellant. He pointed out that the appellant did not produce any medical evidence to substantiate his claim for future loss of income. Moreover, the contents of disability certifcate have also not been proved by calling the necessary witness. As such, he prayed for dismissal of the appeal. However, in the alternative, he submitted that the expenses of medical treatment can be considered.

7. It is signifcant to note that the appellant has not produced on record anything about his income though he claimed that after completing education, he was doing some job. Moreover, it appears that the learned Tribunal has also not considered the percentage of disability and refused the said percentage of disability for calculating future loss of income. Further, there is no explanation from the learned Tribunal as to how and on what basis it came to the conclusion that the appellant was entitled for an amount of Rs.40, 000/- due to the injuries sustained by him. Further, though medical bills aggregating Rs.47, 652/- were exhibited, but the learned Tribunal only granted Rs.7, 000/- towards medical expenses as against those bills. It is to be noted here that the Hon'ble Apex Court has observed in many of its judgments that if the medical bills are on record not exhibited, it can be taken into consideration for awarding the compensation to that effect even without examining the concerned witnesses. In this matter, the learned Tribunal app