Tie compensation to functional disability, says SC
The Supreme Court of India ruled that compensation for accident victims should be based on 'functional disability' rather than strictly on medical certification. The court increased compensation for a child victim, emphasizing that functional loss often exceeds physical impairment.
Why it matters
This sets a significant legal precedent for personal injury law in India, prioritizing the long-term economic and social reality of victims over rigid medical metrics.
NEW DELHI: Holding that functional disability faced by a road accident victim should be the deciding factor for granting compensation and not doctor-certified medical disability, SC has granted compensation of Rs 83.3 lakh to a minor who met with an accident when she was just six months old and is now suffering from severe spinal cord and neurological injuries.Though the doctor certified her 90% disabled, a bench held that she was suffering from 100% functional disability and quantified the compensation on that basis."...In the given facts of a case, a lesser physical disability may result in a much higher functional disability and in an appropriate case, even amount to complete loss of earning capacity," the bench said, adding it would be reasonable to assume that functional incapacity resulting out of a particular bodily injury may be higher and greater than what may be medically perceived."The present case concerns a child…
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