Thursday 25 June 2015

How to determine compensation in case of death of housewife in accident?



Principle for determination of loss of
dependency on account of gratuitous services rendered by a
housewife. Para 34 of the judgment in Master Manmeet Singh
(supra) is extracted hereunder:-
“34. To sum up, the loss of dependency on account of
gratuitous services rendered by a housewife shall be:-
(i) Minimum salary of a Graduate where she is a
   Graduate.
(ii) Minimum salary of a Matriculate where she is a
    Matriculate.
(iii) Minimum salary of a non-Matriculate in other
     cases.

(iv) There will be an addition of 25% in the assumed
    income in (i), (ii) and (iii) where the age of the
   homemaker is upto 40 years; the increase will be
  restricted to 15% where her age is above 40 years
 but less than 50 years; there will not be any
addition in the assumed salary where the age is
more than 50 years.
(v) When the deceased home maker is above 55 years
   but less than 60 years; there will be deduction of
  25%; and when the deceased home maker is above
 60 years there will be deduction of 50% in the
assumed income as the services rendered decrease
substantially. Normally, the value of gratuitous
services rendered will be NIL (unless there is
evidence to the contrary) when the home maker is
above 65 years.
(vi) If a housewife dies issueless, the contribution
    towards the gratuitous services is much less, as
   there are greater chances of the husband’s re-
    marriage. In such cases, the loss of dependency
   shall be 50% of the income as per the qualification
  stated in (i), (ii) and (iii) above and addition and
 deduction thereon as per (iv) and (v) above.
(vii) There shall not be any deduction towards the
personal and living expenses.
(viii) As an attempt has been made to compensate the
loss of dependency, only a notional sum which may
be upto ` 25,000/- (on present scale of the money
value) towards loss of love and affection and `
10,000/- towards loss of consortium, if the
husband is alive, may be awarded.
(ix)
Since a homemaker is not working and thus not
earning, no amount should be awarded towards
loss of estate.”



IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
Date of decision:27th February, 2012

MAC. APP. No.208/2012
ICICI LOMBARD GENERAL INSURANCE CO LTD.

versus
SHRIKANT & ORS




These two appeals arise out of common judgment
dated
17.11.2011 passed by Motor Accident Claims Tribunal
whereby a compensation of ` 1,95,000/- along with interest @
7.5 % was awarded for the death of Smt. Manbhawti Devi who
died in a accident which occurred on 26.12.2008.
2.
The Claims Tribunal on the basis of the judgment of the
Supreme Court in Lata Wadhwa & Ors. v.State of Bihar &
Ors., (2001) 8 SCC 197took the value of the gratuitous services
rendered by the deceased to be ` 3000/- per month.
The
Claims Tribunal applied the multiplier of ‘5’ as the deceased’s
age i.e. 65 years to compute the loss of dependency as
`1,80,000/-.
After
adding
conventional
sum
overall
compensation of `1,95,000/- was awarded.
3.
This case is covered by the judgment of this Court in Royal
Sundaram Alliance Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Master Manmeet
Singh & Ors., MAC.APP. 590/2011, decided on 30th January,
2012.
This Court noticed the following judgments of the
Supreme Court:-
(i)
General
Manager,
Kerala
State
Road
Transport
Corporation, Trivandrum v. Susamma Thomas (Mrs.)
and Ors. (1994) 2 SCC 176,
(ii)
National Insurance Company Limited v. Deepika & Ors.,
2010 (4) ACJ 2221,
MAC. APP. No.208/2012 & 213/2012
Page 2 of 5
(iii)
Amar Singh Thukral v. Sandeed Chhatwal, ILR (2004) 2
Del 1,
(iv)
Lata Wadhwa & Ors. v. State of Bihar & Ors., (2001) 8
SCC 197,
(v)
Gobald Motor Service Ltd. & Anr. v. R.M.K. Veluswami
& Ors., AIR 1962 SC 1,
(vi)
A.
Rajam
v.
M.
Manikya
Reddy
&
Anr.,
MANU/AP/0303/1988,
(vii) Morris v. Rigby (1966) 110 Sol Jo 834 and
(viii) Regan v. Williamson 1977 ACJ 331 (QBD England),
and laid down the principle for determination of loss of
dependency on account of gratuitous services rendered by a
housewife. Para 34 of the judgment in Master Manmeet Singh
(supra) is extracted hereunder:-
“34. To sum up, the loss of dependency on account of
gratuitous services rendered by a housewife shall be:-
(i) Minimum salary of a Graduate where she is a
   Graduate.
(ii) Minimum salary of a Matriculate where she is a
    Matriculate.
(iii) Minimum salary of a non-Matriculate in other
     cases.
MAC. APP. No.208/2012 & 213/2012
Page 3 of 5
(iv) There will be an addition of 25% in the assumed
    income in (i), (ii) and (iii) where the age of the
   homemaker is upto 40 years; the increase will be
  restricted to 15% where her age is above 40 years
 but less than 50 years; there will not be any
addition in the assumed salary where the age is
more than 50 years.
(v) When the deceased home maker is above 55 years
   but less than 60 years; there will be deduction of
  25%; and when the deceased home maker is above
 60 years there will be deduction of 50% in the
assumed income as the services rendered decrease
substantially. Normally, the value of gratuitous
services rendered will be NIL (unless there is
evidence to the contrary) when the home maker is
above 65 years.
(vi) If a housewife dies issueless, the contribution
    towards the gratuitous services is much less, as
   there are greater chances of the husband’s re-
    marriage. In such cases, the loss of dependency
   shall be 50% of the income as per the qualification
  stated in (i), (ii) and (iii) above and addition and
 deduction thereon as per (iv) and (v) above.
(vii) There shall not be any deduction towards the
personal and living expenses.
(viii) As an attempt has been made to compensate the
loss of dependency, only a notional sum which may
be upto ` 25,000/- (on present scale of the money
value) towards loss of love and affection and `
10,000/- towards loss of consortium, if the
husband is alive, may be awarded.
(ix)
Since a homemaker is not working and thus not
earning, no amount should be awarded towards
loss of estate.”

4.
In the absence of any qualification of deceased the value of the
service rendered by her is to be taken as salary of a non
matriculate i.e. `4127/- on the date of accident, which is to be
reduced by 50%. On applying a multiplier of 5 the loss of
gratuitous service comes to `1,23,810/- (4127x1/2x12x5). On
adding a sum of `25,000/- towards Loss of Love and Affection,
`10,000/- towards Funeral Expenses and `10,000/- towards
Loss of Estate, the overall compensation comes to `1,68,810/-.
5.
Although the Claims Tribunal awarded a compensation of
`1,95,000/- on the basis of judgment in Lata Wadhwa (supra).
Since there is not much difference in the computation it cannot
said that the compensation awarded was exorbitant or
excessive.
6.
In the circumstances, I would not like to interfere with the
impugned award.
7. The Appeals are accordingly dismissed.
8. Pending applications also stand disposed of accordingly.
9. Statutory amount deposited in both the Appeals shall also be
refunded to the Appellant/Insurance Company through the
counsel.
(G.P. MITTAL)
JUDGE
FEBRUARY 27, 2012


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