Delhi tribunal applies latest SC ruling, awards Rs 14.1 lakh in 3-year-old's death case

NEW DELHI: A Delhi Motor Accident Claims Tribunal has awarded Rs 14.1 lakh in compensation to the parents of a three-year-old girl who died after being hit by a rashly driven e-rickshaw in Dwarka in 2019, applying recent Supreme Court rulings to assess the notional income of the deceased child.

Presiding Officer Sudeep Raj Saini was hearing a claim petition filed by the parents of baby Ekra and directed the Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company Ltd. to pay the compensation with 7.5 per cent annual interest from January 28, 2019.

However, it granted recovery rights to the insurance company against the driver and owner of the vehicle, as the driver did not possess a valid driving licence at the time of the accident.

In an order dated June 8, the tribunal said, "It stands proved, on the touchstone of preponderance of probabilities, that the accident in question was caused due to rash and negligent driving of the vehicle being driven by respondent no. 1, Ankit." The tribunal held that the child died on January 5, 2019, after the e-rickshaw, driven by Ankit, hit her near the main gate of Sector 16B, Dwarka.

Rejecting the defence that the respondents had been falsely implicated and that it was a hit-and-run case, the tribunal said the evidence established the accident on the "touchstone of preponderance of probabilities".

It relied on the testimony of an eyewitness, the chargesheet, seizure memo, arrest memo, replies to notices under Section 133 of the Motor Vehicles Act, and medical records to conclude that the accident occurred due to the rash and negligent driving of the offending e-rickshaw.

While calculating compensation, the tribunal referred to the Supreme Court's recent judgment in Hitesh Nagjibhai Patel vs Bababhai Nagjibhai Rabari (2025), which held that compensation in cases involving the death of a child should ordinarily be computed based on the minimum wages payable to a skilled worker in the relevant state.

"On the strength of the aforesaid judgment, it is submitted that the notional income of the deceased be taken as per the minimum wages of a skilled worker, with addition of 40 per cent towards future prospects and application of multiplier of 18," it said.

Since the deceased's parents were residents of Bihar, the tribunal adopted the state's minimum wage for a skilled worker, Rs 8,450 per month.

The tribunal awarded Rs 12.77 lakh towards loss of dependency, besides Rs 96,000 towards parental consortium and Rs 18,000 each towards funeral expenses and loss of estate, taking the total compensation to Rs 14.1 lakh.

Observing that the driver had admitted in his cross-examination that he did not possess a valid driving licence, the tribunal held that this constituted a fundamental breach of the insurance policy.

“This tribunal holds that respondent no 1 was not in possession of a valid and effective driving licence at the time of the accident, which amounted to a fundamental breach of the terms and conditions of the insurance policy,” it said.

It, however, directed the insurer to first satisfy the award and recover the amount later from the driver and owner jointly and severally.