Family Pension Received By Heirs Of Deceased Has No Bearing While Considering MACT Compensation: Allahabad High Court

The Allahabad High Court has held that pension being received by the claimant and the family pension received by the legal heirs of the deceased in a motor vehicle accident should not be considered at the time of calculating compensations under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.

Referring to the decision of the Apex Court in Sebastiani Lakra and others vs. National Insurance Company Limited and another and Hanumantharaju B. through LR vs. M. Akram Pasha and another, Justice Sandeep Jain held

“It is apparent from the above judgements of the Apex Court that the pension paid to the claimant or family pension being paid to the legal heirs of the deceased employee is not to be considered and deducted while assessing compensation in the claim case and the compensation is to be determined on the basis of salary/pension of the injured/deceased, which he was getting at the time of the accident.”

The deceased, about 73 years of age, was receiving a pension of Rs.23,936/- per month at the time of his accident. It was submitted that since the wife was getting a family pension of Rs.14,900/- per month, the Tribunal had assessed the compensation at the differential amount. This was challenged before the High Court.

The Court held compensation being based on the difference in the pension received by the deceased and the family pension received by his wife was erroneous. It held that even the family pension that the wife was getting after the death of her husband in the motor vehicle accident was not to be considered for the purposes of computing the compensation.

“In view of the above law laid down by the Apex Court, the claimants are entitled to get compensation on the basis of the monthly pension of the deceased, which was Rs.23,936/-.”

Accordingly, the monthly income of the deceased was revised to the pension he was getting per month as on the date of his death. The compensation was enhanced from Rs.4,76,620/- to Rs.15,22,545/- alongwith interest @ 7% per annum from the date of filing of the claim petition till it's actual payment.

Case Title: Smt Mugga Devi And 4 Others v. Makkhan Singh And 2 Others 2026 LiveLaw (AB) 84 [FIRST APPEAL FROM ORDER No. - 1995 of 2024]

Case Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (AB) 84

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