The Rajasthan High Court has enhanced compensation awarded to the family of a deceased police constable in a motor accident case, ruling that various salary allowances should be included while calculating monthly income for compensation purposes.
Justice Sandeep Taneja passed the order while deciding an appeal filed by the claimants challenging an earlier award of the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT), Jaipur.
Background of the Case
The case arose from a road accident dated 19 April 2006. Rajaram Meena was travelling in a taxi towards Bundi when, near Niwai Bypass, a truck allegedly came from the opposite side at high speed and collided with the taxi.
Rajaram Meena later died from injuries sustained in the accident. His family approached the Tribunal seeking compensation.
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The MACT had earlier awarded ₹15,73,100 with interest at 6% per annum. Dissatisfied with the amount, the family moved the High Court seeking enhancement.
The main issue before the court was whether allowances paid to the deceased employee should be treated as part of his income.
The claimants argued that the deceased, a police constable, was earning ₹8,900 per month, and the Tribunal wrongly excluded components such as:
- Higher Duties Allowance (HDA)
- City Compensatory Allowance (CCA)
- House Rent Allowance (HRA)
- Washing allowance
- Miscellaneous allowances
Justice Taneja relied on Supreme Court rulings dealing with “just compensation” under the Motor Vehicles Act.
The court observed that benefits and allowances which supported the employee and family could not be ignored while computing dependency loss.
“The learned Tribunal was not justified in deducting the amount from the monthly salary of the deceased,” the court held.
The High Court said these allowances formed part of the income and had to be considered while assessing compensation payable to dependents.
After including the full monthly salary of ₹8,900, applying future prospects, multiplier, and other conventional heads, the court recalculated total compensation at ₹21,52,400.
Since the Tribunal had already awarded ₹15,73,100, the enhanced amount came to ₹5,79,300.
The High Court enhanced the compensation by ₹5,79,300 and directed the respondents to deposit the additional amount within two months.
The court further ordered that the enhanced sum would carry interest at the same rate fixed by the Tribunal from the date of filing of the claim petition. The appeal was disposed of accordingly.
Case Details
Case Title: Priyanka & Ors. vs Swarn Singh & Anr.
Case Number: S.B. Civil Miscellaneous Appeal No. 6406/2011
Judge: Justice Sandeep Taneja
Decision Date: 16 April 2026
