Future as doctor cannot be ignored: HC enhances compensation to Rs 78 lakh in MBBS student's accidental death

Jaipur: The Rajasthan High Court has increased the compensation awarded to the family of a 23-year-old final-year MBBS student who died in a road accident in 2015, holding that his future as a doctor could not be ignored while calculating damages.

Earlier, the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal had awarded Rs 40,90,000 as compensation to the deceased’s family, claiming that the deceased was only a student and had not earned “a single penny.” Challenging this, the parents of the deceased student said that the amount is too low and sought enhancement of the compensation before the court. 

Noting that the deceased was likely to become a doctor, the Single Bench of Justice Anoop Kumar Dhand allowed the appeal of the grieving parents and enhanced the compensation from Rs 40.90 lakh to Rs 78.30 lakh. 

The Court applied a notional monthly income of Rs 50,000, considering that the deceased was in the final year of his MBBS course and was likely to become a doctor.

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As per Live Law media report, the history of the incident goes back to 2015, when the MBBS student who was in his final year of medical course died in a road accident. Following this, the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) had awarded Rs 40,90,000 as compensation to the deceased’s family.

The insurer maintained that since the deceased was only a student at the time of the accident, the Tribunal was wrong in presuming that he would earn a specific salary in the future.

On the other hand, the family of the deceased contended that as the deceased was in the final year of MBBS, he would have become a doctor and earned a substantial income if he had survived. They argued that the Tribunal erred in fixing the notional income at only Rs 25,000 per month.

However, the court referred to the Supreme Court’s judgment in Bishnupriya Panda v. Basanti Manjari Mohanty, which dealt with a similar situation. In that case, the Supreme Court assessed the notional monthly income of the deceased at ₹50,000, considering future prospects.

Relying on this precedent, the High Court observed that it had no option but to assess the deceased’s notional income at Rs 50,000 per month in the present case as well.

With this revision, the Court dismissed the insurance company’s appeal and increased the total compensation payable to the family to Rs 78.30 lakh.

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