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2012 DIGILAW 405 (MAD)

Kishore M. Doshi v. G. Krishnamurthy

2012-01-27

S.VIMALA

body2012
Judgment :- The husband, who is the sole claimant, has filed this appeal aggrieved over the inadequacy of compensation awarded by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (hereinafter called as the “Tribunal”), awarding a sum Rs.1,80,000/- as against the claim of Rs.4,50,000/-. 2. Bhvana K.Doshi, aged 33 years, Sweet and Savory Vendor, earning a sum of Rs.2,500/- per month, met with an accident on 06.05.1997, on account of rash and negligent driving by the driver of the lorry bearing Registration No.TN-04-A-5151 and died on the way to hospital. The husband filed a claim petition, claiming that he was a Dependant upon the earnings of his wife and claimed a sum of Rs.4.50,000/-. The claim is resisted by the Insurance Company pleading that there was no such accident and even if there was any, it was not due to rash and negligent driving. The age, occupation, monthly income of the deceased and legal heirship of the petitioner/appellant were disputed. 3. The claimant/appellant examined himself as PW1 and one Pushparaj had been examined as PW2 and Exs. P1 to P6 have been marked. The Tribunal on the basis of the evidence, has given a finding that the accident arose on account of rash and negligent driving of the first respondent (Based on Ex.P4-First Information Report, Ex.P5-Sketch). 4. So far as the claim for compensation is concerned, the Tribunal has given a finding that the deceased would have earned an annual income of Rs.15,000/- and adopting a multiplier of 17 and deducting 1/3rd towards her personal expenses, the Tribunal has awarded a sum of Rs.1,70,000/- towards loss of dependency. 5. The learned counsel for the appellant has contended that the monthly dependency arrived at by the Tribunal at the rate of Rs.1,250/-p.m. is grossly inadequate and that the Tribunal did not take into account the value of household services rendered by the deceased as house wife. The further contention is that, if these two counts had been properly quantified, the Tribunal would have awarded the claim as prayed for. 6. The learned counsel for the Insurance Company contended that inasmuch as the accident took place in the year 1997, the quantification of monthly income by the Tribunal is very fair, and if the cost of living in the year 1997, is taken into consideration the dependency would not have been more. 6. The learned counsel for the Insurance Company contended that inasmuch as the accident took place in the year 1997, the quantification of monthly income by the Tribunal is very fair, and if the cost of living in the year 1997, is taken into consideration the dependency would not have been more. The learned counsel for the Insurance company submitted that the award given by the Tribunal is perfectly justified. 7. The details of amount claimed and award passed by the Tribunal are as shown in the table: 8. In order to appreciate the contention on both sides, the decision reported in 2009 1 TNMAC 671 (National Insurance Company Limited, Greams Road, Chennai-6, Vs. 1. Minor Deepika rep. by her guardian and next friend, Ranganathan and Others) relied on by the learned counsel for the appellant would be helpful. This decision recognizes how the most of the unpaid work around the world is performed by women, how it goes unrecognized, how services of the woman towards family welfare helps the other partner to devote his energy time and attention to tasks that augment his income and generate property for the family, and the need to quantify and to include economic value of those services in the Gross National Product, and of course to quantify it while valuing the dependency. The important observation are extracted below:- "8. General Recommendation No. 17 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) deals with measurement and quantification of the unremunerated domestic activities of women and their recognition in the Gross National Product. ....... It is recognised that most of the unpaid work around the world is performed by women.” “9. The UNICEF in 2000, noted that "unpaid care work is the foundation of human experience". The care work is that which is done by a woman as a mother and definitely in India, the woman herself will be the last person to give this role an economic value, given the social concept of the role of a mother......”. ......... “11. The role of a housewife includes managing budgets, co-ordinating activities, balancing accounts, helping children with education, managing help at home, nursing care etc. One formula that has been arrived at determines the value of the housewife as, Value of housewife = husbands income wifes income + value of husbands household services,..........” “12. ........ ......... “11. The role of a housewife includes managing budgets, co-ordinating activities, balancing accounts, helping children with education, managing help at home, nursing care etc. One formula that has been arrived at determines the value of the housewife as, Value of housewife = husbands income wifes income + value of husbands household services,..........” “12. ........ In fact, the National Organisation for Women, USA has adopted the proposal for recommendation of economic rights for homemakers, which includes giving of a value to the goods and services produced and provided by the homemaker in the Gross National Product.” 9. The problem in assessing the compensation is that something that cannot be valued is expected to be valued. In so doing, the norm should not be belittling and inevitably it would be sometimes generous too. The term house wife has become obsolete and it is replaced by the term homemaker. The term home making include not only cooking but also creation of life, nurturing, and supporting the lives. Man and woman together make mankind and without woman, there is no mankind. The magnificent and benevolent role of creation, caring and sharing by a woman as a partner, as a daughter, as a sister, as a mother, as a grandmother, thus, playing the symphony of life can never be fulfilled by money, yet the minimum courtesy towards honouring the dignity would be to atleast quantify the services in terms of money. 10. The Constitution of India guarantees the right to life which has been interpreted to mean, the living with dignity . It is not merely a question of quantifying the value of the services, in terms of money, but the recognition of the human worth and dignity,after death also. 11. Going by the principles enunciated in the above decision, one can easily conclude that the monthly dependency assessed by the Tribunal is inadequate. The monthly income is said to be Rs.2,500/- per month. This will be the notional minimum amount to be taken into account even in the absence of any evidence. Adopting a sum of Rs.1,000/- the barest minimum in respect of core services rendered by her in maintaining the house and performing household activities, a modest sum of Rs.1,500/-can be added. The monthly income is said to be Rs.2,500/- per month. This will be the notional minimum amount to be taken into account even in the absence of any evidence. Adopting a sum of Rs.1,000/- the barest minimum in respect of core services rendered by her in maintaining the house and performing household activities, a modest sum of Rs.1,500/-can be added. So far as amount to be deducted towards personal expenses are concerned, as there are no children and the only Dependant being the husband, 50% has to be deducted towards personal expenses. The balance of Rs.2,000/-is the monthly dependency. 12. The principle to be adopted in applying suitable multiplier is that the age of the claimant/age of the deceased whichever is high would be applicable. The age of the husband, who is the claimant is higher, i.e. 38. Therefore, as per decision reported in (2009) 6 SCC 121 (Sarala Verma and Others Vs. Delhi Transport Corporation and Another), if multiplier 15 is adopted, the loss of dependency comes to Rs.3,60,000/-(Rs.2,000/-x12x15=Rs.3,60,000/-). 13. It is again settled practice that whenever multiplier method is adopted, compensation under conventional damages granted would be at a modest rate. A sum of Rs.5,000/- towards funeral expenses, a sum of Rs.20,000/- towards loss of consortium and a sum of Rs. 5,000/-towards loss of estate is awarded. Thus, the total compensation payable would be Rs.3,90,000/-. 14. In the result, this Civil Miscellaneous Appeal is partly allowed. (i) The award of the Tribunal is enhanced from Rs.1,80,000/- to Rs.3,90,000/-. (ii) The interest payable on the entire award amount is at the rate of 7.5% per annum from the date of petition till the date of deposit. (iii) The Insurance Company is directed to deposit the entire award amount of Rs.3,90,000/- with interest at the rate of 7.5% per annum from the date of petition till the date of realization within a period of one month from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. (iv) On such deposit, the claimant is permitted to withdraw the entire amount with accrued interest, less the amount already withdrawn, if any. (v) In the circumstances of the case, there will be no order as to costs.