Supreme Court Holds Medical Board Opinion Binding Where No Reassessment Ordered; Awards Rs.48.7 Lakh to Comatose Accident Victim

A bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and Manmohan heard an appeal by the claimant-appellant challenging the compensation awarded by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal and modified by the High Court of Rajasthan, Jaipur Bench, arising from a 2014 road accident and the assessment of permanent disability and attendant charges.

The Court allowed the appeal and held that the opinion of the duly constituted Medical Board, which had assessed the claimant as suffering "100% one hundred percent" permanent impairment, could not be lightly displaced by the Tribunal in the absence of a reassessment. The Court concluded that the Tribunal ought to have directed a reassessment if it doubted the certificate, and therefore treated the Medical Board's opinion as that of experts. The Court enhanced the award substantially — accepting 100% permanent disability, awarding attendant charges at Rs.5,000 per month computed for 13 years (Rs.7,80,000), increasing the head for pain and suffering by Rs.6,00,000, and recomputing future loss and prospects — to a final compensation of Rs.48,70,000 with interest at 7% per annum from the date of the claim petition. The Court, in its reasoning, observed: "The Tribunal questioned the competence of the Medical Board to assess the permanent disability of the claimant-appellant, terming the certificate of the Medical Board as not completely reliable. If the Tribunal had reason to doubt the medical certificate, the option available before it was to have the disability re-assessed but it could not have gone into the details of the determination of disability. Since that course of action has not been adopted, the opinion of the Medical Board, being an opinion of the experts is to be treated as such. That apart, the comatose state of the claimant-appellant is not in dispute."

Background

On 23 March 2014 the claimant-appellant was riding a motorcycle when a Maruti Omni coming from the opposite direction on the wrong side allegedly struck him. He sustained multiple injuries, was taken to Katta Hospital and later to Sawai Mansingh Hospital, Jaipur, and remained in a comatose state. FIR No.81/14 was registered. A Medical Board subsequently issued a certificate stating inter alia that the patient had "no speech and his intellectual functions are completely impaired," "He is dependent on others on Activities of Daily Living (ADL) = 100%" and "Total permanent, physical impairment is 100%."

The Tribunal found the Omni to have been driven negligently, fixed liability on the insurer, assessed permanent disability at 50% and awarded a total of Rs.16,29,465. The High Court accepted the 50% disability assessment but allowed 25% towards future prospects and enhanced the award to Rs.19,39,418, directing the insurer to deposit the enhanced amount with 7% interest. The claimant appealed to this Court contending that the Tribunal had improperly substituted its view for the Medical Board's expert opinion and that attendant charges were inadequately awarded; the insurer contested the claim of 100% disability and the evidence for attendant payments.

This Court accepted the claimant's challenge, held that in absence of a directed reassessment the expert certificate could not be disregarded, and applied precedents including this Court's guidance on computation of attendant charges and pain and suffering in catastrophic injury cases. The Court recomputed loss of future income, future prospects and attendant charges in the light of 100% disability, split out and enhanced compensation for "Pain and Suffering," and rounded the award to Rs.48,70,000 with interest at 7% per annum from the date of the claim petition. The appeal was allowed and pending applications were closed.

Case Details: Case No.: Civil Appeal No. — of 2025 (Arising out of SLP(C) No.3066 of 2024) Case Title: Prakash Chand Sharma v. Rambabu Saini & Anr. Appearances: For the Petitioner(s): Not indicated in the reported judgment For the Respondent(s): Not indicated in the reported judgment