When ‘error’ cost MACT HC’s ‘love and affection’

It takes into account various factors, including the severity of the injury, cost of treatment involved, level of suffering, loss of earnings/love/job, etc. to fix the right damages. But a recent case took everyone by surprise wherein the MACT presiding officer awarded Rs 35 lakh to a family for “loss of love and affection”.

After the insurance firm moved the Madras High Court, claiming such a grant is “unknown to the parlance of compensation law”, the latter directed initiation of departmental proceedings against the presiding officer after describing the award as ‘unbelievable’ and ‘unreasoned’.

Though such a huge award was attributed to a “print error”, the bench comprising Justice MM Sundresh and Justice Krishnan Ramasamy held, “This is not the first award of this tribunal which we are adjudicating upon. We do feel that it is not an innocent error and there is something more to it.” The bench, while setting aside the award and quantifying the award for loss and affection as Rs 1.6 lakh, said, “We are quite convinced that awarding of the said amount can neither be termed as inadvertence nor oversight. It does shock our judicial conscience.”

In fact, when it comes to accident claims, advocates used to play truant in pocketing the majority of the compensation, giving the victim’s family a pittance. HC’s observation is expected to bring down such ‘errors’ and help compensation reach the right hands in time, avoiding unnecessary appeals.