The court emphasized the necessity of just and fair compensation in personal injury claims, mandating a liberal approach to calculating damages for pain, suffering, and future loss of income.

ORDER :

1. The present First Appeal, under Section 173 of Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, is preferred by the appellant – original claimant being aggrieved and dissatisfied with the judgment and award dated 8.8.2019 passed by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Surendranagar in Motor Accident Claim Petition No.201 of 2016.

2. Brief facts of the case are as under:

2.1 That on on 06.03.2016 at about 9.00 pm the appellant was driving his motor cycle at moderate speed following traffic rules and when he reached near Chamunda Dharamshala, on Chotila-Rajkot Highway at that point of time opponent car came from behind and rammed into the motorcycle due to which the appellant received serious injuries over his body.

3. Learned advocate for the appellant - claimant has submitted that the Tribunal has committed an error in not properly calculating the amount of compensation. He has submitted that amount of award is on lower side as the Tribunal has not properly considered the various aspects; like pain, shock and suffering, transportation, special diet, medical expenses etc.

3.1 He has submitted that the compensation is required to be enhanced by modifying the award impugned accordingly and this appeal may be allowed.

4. Per contra, learned advocate for respondent – Insurance Company has submitted that the impugned judgment and award passed by the Tribunal is just and proper and therefore, he prays to dismiss the appeal.

5. Apt to note that the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988 is a beneficial piece of Legislation. The concept of just and fair compensation is integral and seminal to the MV Act. The compensation to be awarded under the principle of just and fair compensation to the injured of the road accident or the legal representative/s of the deceased person is based on the principle of fairness, reasonableness and equability. Anguish of the heart or for mental turbulence being consequential result of the road accident cannot be actually compensated, but the quint essentiality lies in adopting holistic and pragmatic view to the computation of the compensation for the loss sustained, which is to be in the realm of realistic approximation. Although exact or perfect arithmetical calculation of compensation for reparation of the loss arrived from the road accident is almost impossible. The Tribunal is bestowed with duty to make an endevour to award just compensation regardless of the amount claimed by the claimant. The determination of the quantum of compensation therefore, must be liberal and not niggardly since the law values life and limb in a free country in generous scale. Needless to state that money may be awarded, so that something tangible may be procured to reach something else of the like nature, which has been destroyed or lost, but money cannot renew physical frame that has been battered and shattered being a result of the road accident. Yet Tribunal to endavour to bring back victim to stage of pre-road accident as far as possible Thus, the award must be reasonable and cannot be assessed with moderation though it cannot at the same time be pity and what could be granted must be just, fair and equitable compensation.

6.1 I have considered the submissions made by the rival parties. I have perused the record and proceedings of the Tribunal. I have gone through the impugned judgment and award passed by the learned Tribunal. From the record, it transpires that the learned Tribunal erred in considering the monthly income of the claimant and even has not added future prospective. The learned Tribunal has also erred in giving compensation under the head of pain, shock and suffering, medical, amenities etc. The rate of minimum wage at the time of road accident was Rs.7886/- per month and round up figure comes to Rs.8000/-. As per the judgment of the Hon’ble Apex Court in case of National Insurance Company Limited Vs. Pranay Sethi reported in 2017 (16) SCC 680, 25% loss of future prospect is required to be given. As per disablement certificate issued by Dr. Y