New Delhi, Aug 12: Taking into account the accident victims' tendency to get a fat sum from the insurance firms as damages, the Supreme Court has ruled that the compensation should be "just" and not a "wind fall" for the victim. "The quantum of damages fixed should be in accordance with the injury.... But at the same time it has to be borne in mind that the compensation is not expected to be a wind fall for the victim," a bench comprising Justice Doraiswamy Raju and Justice Arijit Pasayat said in a recent judgement. Ruling that compensation given to accident victims must be "just" and not a "bonanza", the bench reduced the damages from Rs 6.25 lakh to Rs 4.5 lakhs for a person who was reduced to a paraplegic due to injuries sustained in a bus accident.

This ruling was given on a petition filed by Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) challenging a High Court order enhancing the compensation of Rs 2.2 lakh given to one Mahadeva Shetty by a tribunal to Rs 6.25 lakh.
The KSRTC bus, in which Shetty was travelling, plunged into a pit on May 5, 1995, due to rash and negligent driving of the driver. Due to multiple fractures and injury to nerve system he became a paraplegic.
Terming the high court order enahancing the compensation as without basis, Justice Pasayat, writing for the bench, said "statutory provisions clearly indicate that the compensation must be 'just' and it cannot be a bonanza; not a source of profit but the same should not be a pittance." Bureau Report