IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Date of Decision: February 18, 2026 Piara Singh through LRs ...Appellant VERSUS Avtar Singh and others ...Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MRS. JUSTICE ARCHANA PURI Present: Ms.Ekta Thakur, Ms.Kulwinder Kaur, Ms.Pawandeep Kaur and Ms.Kajal, Advocates for the appellant.

Ms.Puneeta Sethi and Mr.Y.S.Thakur, Advocates for respondent No.3.

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ARCHANA PURI, J.

The appellant-claimant has filed the present appeal to seek enhancement of the compensation awarded by learned Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, on account of injuries sustained by him, in a motor vehicular accident.

Suffice to consider that the accident had taken place on

02.08.2007. On appraisal of the evidence, brought on record, learned Tribunal had concluded about the accident to have taken place, on account of rash and negligent driving of truck bearing registration No.HR-38G-0174, driven by respondent No.1-Avtar Singh. Furthermore, learned Tribunal had also observed that Piara Singh had sustained injuries, in the accident in question. On the basis of the evidence, brought on record, it was held that appellant-claimant Piara Singh was serving as Driver in CTU, Chandigarh.

While in the witness box, Piara Singh had stated about the detail of the injuries sustained by him. PW-5 Dr.Aditya Aggarwal, Addl. Professor, Department of Orthopaedics, PGIMER, Chandigarh, also stated about the injuries sustained by the claimant, in the accident in question. He deposed that the claimant had suffered fracture supracondylar femur of left side open, fracture both bone leg left open grade III, sub-trochanteric fracture right thigh and injury left foot and he was operated for these injuries in the form of debridement and external fixation for fracture both bone leg and open reduction and internal fixation for fracture supracondylar femur on 03.09.2007. The claimant was discharged on 05.09.2007, with advice to come for follow up in Orthopaedics OPD, at regular intervals, from time to time.

This witness further stated that the claimant was seen frequently in the OPD and he was seen on 12.05.2010, when he came for dressing. Discharge slip has been proved as Ex.P5/A and Ex.PW4/B is the disability certificate signed by the said witness and others members of the Board.

Perusal of the disability certificate Ex.PW4/B reveals about locomotor disability@ bilateral lower limbs and diagnose to be fracture S/C femur (L) open Gd.I. # BB Leg (L) Open Gd.IIIA ST II ® foot thigh & left foot. The physical/mental disability was 60% of (L) Lower Limb 18% of ® of Lower Limb. The condition was stated to be non-progressive, not likely to improve.

Thus, from the aforesaid medical evidence, brought on record, it is established that appellant-claimant suffered three fractures, which led to

60% disability of the left lower limb and 18% of the right lower limb. Also, from the medical record, it is evident that the appellant-claimant, remained admitted in PGI from 02.08.2007 to 05.09.2007 and he was advised follow up treatment and as per PW-5 Dr.Aditya Aggarwal, the claimant had been frequently coming to the Orthopaedics OPD and he was last seen on

12.05.2010.

Taking into consideration the aforesaid evidence and also considering the principle, vis-a-vis, grant of compensation in injury case, as held in Raj Kumar Vs. Ajay Kumar and Anr., 2011 (1) SCC 343, learned Tribunal had made assessment of the compensation. It was held that the appellant-claimant was working as Driver in CTU, Chandigarh. But however, after the accident, he was working as Chowkidar and therefore, performing light work of Chowkidar. In the light of the same, it was held by learned Tribunal that, there is no evidence that on account of disablement and change of duty as Chowkidar, the salary of the appellant-claimant has been reduced. Rather, learned Tribunal considered Ex.PW1/B i.e. claimant’s salary slip for the month of March 2012, wherein, while working as Driver, he drew a salary of Rs.27,903/-. The only loss,