Uttarakhand High Court
AO/128/2023 on 19 September, 2025
2025:UHC:8387
Office Notes,
reports, orders
or proceedings
SL.
Date or directions COURT'S OR JUDGE'S ORDERS
No.
and Registrar's
order with
Signatures
A.O. No.128 of 2023
Hon'ble Alok Mahra, J.
Mr. Bharat Tewari, Advocate for the
appellant.
Mr. Ghanshyam Joshi and Mr. Sandeep
Tiwari, Advocate for the respondent nos.1 to
Mr. B.S. Koranga, Advocate for
respondent nos.4 & 5.
2. This Appeal from Order has been filed
by the Insurance Company, challenging the
award dated 07.10.2022 passed by learned
M.A.C.T./Ist Additional District Judge,
Haldwani, District Nainital in M.A.C.P. No.
183 of 2019.
3. Learned counsel for the appellant has
assailed the impugned award on the specific
ground that the learned Tribunal has erred
in making deduction towards personal and
living expenses of the deceased. It is
contended that although there were three
dependents of the deceased, the Tribunal
wrongly applied a deduction of 1/4th from
the annual income of the deceased;
whereas, in accordance with the settled
principles laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme
Court, the appropriate deduction ought to
have been 1/3rd in three dependents. In
order to buttress his argument, learned
counsel for the appellant placed reliance
upon the judgment rendered in the case of
"Sarla Verma (Smt.) Vs. Delhi Transport
Corporation and another, reported in (2009)
6 SCC 121, wherein the Hon'ble Supreme
Court has authoritatively laid down
guidelines to bring uniformity in the
assessment of deductions towards personal
and living expenses of the deceased in
motor accident claim cases. It has been held
that where the deceased is survived by two
2025:UHC:8387
to three dependents, the appropriate
deduction to be made from the annual
income is one-third; in cases of four to six
dependents, one-fourth; and where the
dependents are more than six, one-fifth.
Paragraph no.30 of the said judgment is
extracted below:
"30. Though in some cases the deduction to be
made towards personal and living expenses is
calculated on the basis of units indicated in Trilok
Chandra [(1996) 4 SCC 362] , the general practice
is to apply standardised deductions. Having
considered several subsequent decisions of this
Court, we are of the view that where the deceased
was married, the deduction towards personal and
living expenses of the deceased, should be one-third
(1/3rd) where the number of dependent family
members is 2 to 3, one-fourth (1/4th) where the
number of dependent family members is 4 to 6, and
one-fifth (1/5th) where the number of dependent
family members exceeds six."
4. In Sarla Verma's case (Supra), the
Hon'ble Supreme Court standardized the
method for deduction towards personal and
living expenses of the deceased based on
the number of dependents and also laid
down the appropriate multipliers. The
Constitution Bench of the Hon'ble Supreme
Court in the case of "National Insurance
Company Limited Vs. Pranay Sethi and
others, reported in (2017) 16 SCC 680,
while affirming the principles laid down in
Sarla Verma's case (Supra), further
crystallized the law by adding future
prospects to the income of the deceased
and standardizing compensation under
conventional heads. Thus, both judgments
together ensure uniformity, consistency,
and fairness in awarding just compensation.
5. Learned counsel appearing on behalf
of the respondents fairly conceded to the
legal propositions enunciated in the
aforementioned judgments and submitted
that the impugned award may appropriately
be modified in accordance therewith.
6. Considering the evidence on record and
2025:UHC:8387
the submissions of the learned counsel for
the parties, it is observed that the monthly
income of the deceased was ₹48,639.
Deducting 10% towards personal expenses,
the net income comes to ₹43,775/-. After
applying the statutory one-third deduction,
the amount stands at ₹29,183/-. Taking into
account 15% enhancement towards future
prospects, the monthly income is
determined at ₹33,560.45, which
corresponds to an annual income of
₹4,02,725.40. Applying the appropriate
multiplier of 11, the loss of dependency
amounts to ₹44,29,979.40. Adding other
heads of compensation amounting to
₹1,75,000/-, the total compensation comes
to ₹46,04,979.40. The award initially
granted was ₹51,58,264/-, which after
applying the statutory one-third deduction,
equates to ₹46,04,979.40. The difference of
₹5,53,285/- is therefore not payable. In
view of the above, the claimants are held
entitled to receive compensation of
₹46,04,979.40.
7. In view of the foregoing, the appeal is
partly allowed and the impugned award
dated 07.10.2022 passed by learned
M.A.C.T. is modified and the claimants are
held entitled to receive compensation of
₹46,04,979/-, in terms of the calculations
discussed above.
(Alok Mahra, J.)
19.09.2025
Arpan
ARPAN Digitally signed by ARPAN JAISWAL
DN: c=IN, o=HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND, ou=HIGH COURT OF
UTTARAKHAND,
2.5.4.20=eabb68a3895e41937c266c23964c0485365445e3a20dddb
JAISWAL
7393398f9fe45ba3e, postalCode=263001, st=UTTARAKHAND,
serialNumber=060FC17022BEAE3DE215D68D9D454C5109CB9874
46351E4DF04AADAA2C2CEA66, cn=ARPAN JAISWAL
Date: 2025.09.19 16:20:07 +05'30'
