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Indian Express
26-05-2025
- Indian Express
‘Housewife puts heart, soul, sweat for family': MACT recognises homemaker's contribution, awards `20L in compensation ruling
Observing that a housewife puts her 'heart, soul and sweat to serve her family… 24 hours a day and seven days a week', the Motor Accident Claim Tribunal (MACT) of Chandigarh has has awarded Rs 20.06 lakh to a deceased woman's family. The tribunal, presided by Dr Harpreet Kaur, was hearing a plea filed by Gurbachan Singh (husband of the deceased), two minor children, and Harbans Kaur and Baljit Singh (parents of the deceased). The plea sought compensation of Rs 35 lakh, on account of death of Sukhwinder Kaur, 32, in a motor vehicular accident. According to the plea, on March 28, 2019, Sukhwinder, along with her husband, was going on foot to village Bahadurgarh after paying obeisance in Sheetla Meta temple situated at Sundra village. At about 7 pm, when they reached the area of Nimbua village, Sushil Kumar, who was riding a motorcycle, came from behind at a high speed and hit Sukhwinder, the plea said. As a result, she fell down on the road and suffered multiple injuries including head injury, due to which she died. According to the complainant, Sukhwinder was a housewife, and the petitioners are entitled to receive the compensation of Rs 35 lakh on account of 'love, care, affection and multifarious services' given by the deceased woman to the claimants. The driver of the motorcycle, Sushil Kumar, failed to appear before court, despite being issued notice, therefore was proceeded against ex parte in 2021. Upon notice, the insurance company — United India Insurance Company Limited appeared — through its counsel filed a written statement, in which it raised preliminary objections regarding maintainability, and while denying all the material averments having bearing on the amount of compensation, prayed for the dismissal of the claim petition. The tribunal, in view of the recitals of the FIR, the postmortem report, and testimony of Gurbachan Singh (an eye witness to the accident), said that it 'stands amply established that the accident had taken place, due to rash and negligent driving of offending vehicle which was being driven by Kumar, and the same resulted into death of Sukhwinder'. On the income of the deceased, the tribunal noted that it is claimed by the claimant that at the time of her death, the victim woman was a housewife and rendering multifarious services including household services to the claimants. 'No doubt, all these services can be performed by a maid servant. However, it would not be fair to equate the services of a wife with that of a maid as the former puts her heart, soul and sweat to serve her family and that too 24 hours a day and seven days a week. Therefore, the claimants are entitled to adequate compensation in lieu of the loss of gratuitous services rendered by the deceased,' the tribunal held. It also cited a matter decided by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in 2014, in which the court had fixed the notional income of the deceased housewife as Rs 9,000 per month, while observing that housewife is something more than a 'mere skilled worker and it would be unreasonable to underestimate the contribution of her as housewife'. Keeping the notional annual income of the deceased as Rs 9,000 and further adding other expenses, the tribunal ordered the insurance company to pay Rs 20.06 lakh to the claimants of the deceased. However, it clarified that though the insurance company has a right to recover the claim amount from the owner-insured and the driver of the motorcycle (Raj Kumar and Sushil Kumar).
Hindustan Times
06-05-2025
- Hindustan Times
Panchkula: Tribunal awards ₹27lakh compensation to road mishap victim's kin
The Motor Accident Claims Tribunal has ordered Haryana Roadways, its driver and United India Insurance Company Limited to jointly pay ₹27,14,250 in compensation to the family of Lal Singh, a 46-year-old man who died in a road accident in June 2024. The petition was filed by Lal Singh's 45-year-old wife, two children and elderly mother in August 2024. The respondents included Rattan Singh, the bus driver, Haryana Roadways through its general manager and the insurer, United India Insurance. According to the case, Lal Singh was riding his motorcycle from Panchkula to Mattanwala village on June 15, 2024, when a Haryana Roadways bus allegedly struck him from behind near Eldeco Society, Mattanwala. The impact caused him to fall and sustain serious injuries. He was taken to the community health centre in Kot and later referred to civil hospital in Panchkula, Sector-6, where he was declared brought dead. An FIR was registered against the bus driver under Sections 279 and 304-A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The claimants said that Lal Singh was working as an Edu Sat Chowkidar and also sold milk, earning around ₹40,000 per month. The respondents denied the occurrence of the accident or any liability. The Haryana Roadways driver, Rattan Singh, claimed that no accident involving the bus had occurred and alleged a false FIR was registered to claim compensation. Haryana Roadways maintained that the accident was due to the deceased's negligence, while the insurance company denied the occurrence of the alleged accident with their insured vehicle. However, after reviewing the case records and the statements from both sides, the tribunal ruled in favor of the claimants. It concluded that the driver, Haryana Roadways, and the insurance company are jointly and severally liable to pay the total compensation of ₹27,14,250 to Lal Singh's family. The tribunal directed the insurance company to make the payment in the first instance.
