The Delhi High Court enhanced compensation to ₹4.26 crore for a road accident victim who has remained in a vegetative coma since 2022. Relying on the Supreme Court's ruling in Rashmirekha Tripathy v. Sriram General Insurance Co. Ltd., the Court held that average income figures reflected in that judgment must guide compensation calculations. The ruling reinforces how courts assess future earnings, medical expenses, and attendant care costs for victims with permanent, catastrophic injuries under the Motor Vehicles Act.

This case sits at the intersection of Article 21 (right to life and dignity), the Motor Vehicles Act 1988, and the Supreme Court's evolving methodology for computing just compensation in accident claims.

The legal principle the Delhi HC applied flows from Rashmirekha Tripathy v. Sriram General Insurance Co. Ltd. (SC), where the Court held that when a victim's actual income cannot be reliably established, courts must use a notional income benchmark — effectively the average income recognised by the Supreme Court for that category of victim. This prevents tribunals from under-compensating victims merely because documentary proof of earnings is unavailable or contested.

For a victim in a persistent vegetative state, 'just compensation' under Section 168 of the MV Act must account for: (1) loss of future earning capacity (using multiplier method), (2) cost of future medical and attendant care (since the victim needs round-the-clock nursing), (3) pain and suffering, and (4) loss of amenities of life. The catastrophic nature of the injury — coma since 2022 — means the multiplier period is long and attendant care costs are substantial, explaining why the award reached ₹4.26 crore.

Constitutionally, the Supreme Court has repeatedly held (Sarla Verma v. DTC, National Insurance Co. v. Pranay Sethi) that compensation must be 'just' and not 'niggardly,' anchoring the right to fair compensation in Article 21's guarantee of dignified life. CLAT PG examiners test whether aspirants can identify the correct precedent chain, the components of compensation, and how notional income is applied.