Karnataka High Court Adds ₹1.42 Lakh to Injured Porter's Compensation, Insurer Told to Pay and Recover from Tractor Owner
The Karnataka High Court has enhanced the compensation awarded to a man injured in a tractor accident while working as a porter, adding ₹1,42,067 to the amount fixed by a lower court. Justice Tara Vitasta Ganju, sitting as a single-judge bench, allowed the appeal in part.
The accident took place on 22 June 2010. The appellant was employed as a porter in a tractor-trailer and, on his employer's instructions, was loading and unloading manure for transport from Hunsekatte to Chattobanahalli. When the tractor neared Chattobanahalli, it met with an accident and fell into a roadside channel. The appellant suffered injuries to his right and left legs, including fractures of both bones of the middle third of the left leg, along with injuries to other parts of his body. He was shifted to a hospital and later to another, where he underwent operations and surgeries.
He filed a claim petition, and the Principal Senior Civil Judge partly allowed it, awarding ₹2,48,842 with interest at 12 per cent per annum, to be paid by the owner of the tractor. The appellant challenged the award on two grounds: that his income had been wrongly taken at ₹4,500 a month when a notification dated 31 May 2010 fixed monthly wages at ₹8,000, and that the factor of 225 had been applied instead of 225.22, the correct figure for a person aged 19 under Schedule IV of the Employee's Compensation Act, 1923.
The Court agreed that the income should have been taken at ₹8,000 a month, since the accident occurred in 2010 and the notification was issued by the Ministry of Labour and Employment and published in the Extraordinary Gazette. Taking 60 per cent of the notional income of ₹8,000 a month, a disability of 30 per cent, and the factor of 225.22 under Schedule IV, the Court enhanced the compensation by ₹1,42,067, with interest at 12 per cent per annum.
Relying on V. Renganathan v. United India Insurance Co. Ltd., 2022 SCC OnLine SC 2569, the Court held that the insurance company, Respondent 2, was liable to pay both the compensation awarded by the Tribunal and the enhanced amount, and to recover it from Respondent 1, the owner of the tractor. The insurer was directed to make the payment within eight weeks.
The Court also condoned a delay of 578 days in filing the appeal, but clarified that the appellant would not get interest on the enhanced amount for that delayed period. The appeal was allowed in part.
Source: SCC Times