A bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and Prashant Kumar Mishra allowed civil appeal filed by Shyam Prasad Nagalla and others against the Telangana High Court's judgement which had reduced the compensation from Rs 8.03 Cr fixed by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Secundrabad to Rs 5.75 Cr.

 

The claimant-appellants in the present petition were the husband and two daughters of the deceased Lakshmi Nagalla.

 

As per facts of the case, on June 13, 2009, the deceased Lakshmi Nagalla, aged 43 years, was travelling with her family in a Honda City Car from Annavaram to Rajahmundry. Upon reaching the circle leading to Prathipadu, the offending vehicle, owned and operated by respondent AP State Road Transport Corporation, approached from the opposite direction while being driven in a rash and negligent manner and collided with her car. This collision resulted in the instantaneous death of the deceased, Lakshmi and multiple injuries upon the other occupants of the vehicle.

 

A claim petition was filed by the appellants, dependants of Lakshmi, before the tribunal seeking compensation to the tune of Rs 9 Cr submitting that the deceased got her Master’s Degree in Computer Science from Southern College of Technology University of Georgia (USA) and was a permanent resident of USA.

 

They claimed she was earning a monthly income in US Dollars, i.e., 11,600 working as a Software Engineer in K-FORCE Services Corporation, USA and as a Real Estate commission salesperson in the State of Georgia.

 

The tribunal, by its order, held that the Andra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation, was liable to pay an amount of Rs 8,03,42,476 (US Dollar 16,88,960) along with interest at the rate of 7.5% per annum by considering the monthly income of the deceased at US Dollar 11,600 per month after deduction of income tax and fixing the future prospects at 30%.

 

The tribunal also granted an additional amount of Rs 2,35,000 towards conventional heads totalling the entire amount of compensation to be Rs 8,05,77,476.

 

Being aggrieved by the amount of compensation awarded, the Transport Corporation filed an appeal before the high court, on the ground that the tribunal had incorrectly held the offending vehicle to be driving rashly and a multiplier of 14 had been incorrectly applied.

 

The high court, by the impugned order, affirmed the findings of the tribunal on the monthly income of the deceased, being US Dollar 11,600. The multiplier to be applied was reduced from 14 to 10 on account of the deceased earning in foreign currency in accordance with the decision of the top court in United India Insurance Company Ltd & Ors Vs Patrica Jean Mahajan (2002). A sum of Rs 5,75,68,982 was awarded.

 

Yet dissatisfied, the claimant-appellant approached the apex court which framed the major issues for consideration, as whether the petitioner would be entitled to compensation at the exchange rate of currency as on the date of the accident or on the date of the filing of the petition and whether the high court was justified in reducing the multiplier to ‘10’ from ‘14’ as taken by the tribunal.

 

On the first issue of exchange rate of currency, the bench pointed out, the top court in Jiju Kuruvila Vs Kunjujamma Mohan (2013) had observed that the date of filing of the claim petition is the proper date for fixing the rate of exchange for computing compensation. The court noted this exposition had been followed in DLF Ltd Vs Koncar Generators & Motors Ltd (2024). The conversion rate was therefore fixed at Rs 57, which was the prevalent figure at the time of filing the claim petition, it said.

 

On the second issue of applying multiplier, the bench said, as per National Insurance Co Ltd Vs Pranay Sethi (2017), the law is settled that the multiplier for a person aged 43 must be 14.

 

"No exception is made for a person earning in foreign currency," the bench said, recalculating the sum to be awarded as Rs 9,64,52,220.

 

The court thus modified the impugned judgment of December 27, 2014 and redetermined the compensation amount with interest at rate of 7.5 % per annum as decided by the MACT, Secunderabad.

 

Case Title: Shyam Prasad Nagalla & Ors Vs The Andhra Pradesh State Board Transport Corporation & Ors