The Himachal Pradesh High Court has ruled that gratuitous services provided by women in managing households and families should be considered for compensation claims under the Motor Vehicles Act. Justice Virender Singh stressed that women perform a variety of critical tasks at home and their families should be entitled to compensation, in the event of death in a car accident.
The decision was made in response to an appeal concerning a car accident that occurred on June 16, 2007, in Vijaypur, in which housewife Tripta Devi was tragically killed. In light of this, her husband petitioned the Motor Vehicles Act under Section 163-A, demanding compensation for her untimely death. The Tribunal allowed the petition in part, giving compensation of ₹15,000 plus interest at six per cent per annum. Dissatisfied with the verdict, the petitioner filed an appeal, claiming that the Tribunal misread the law and failed to take the deceased’s income into account when calculating compensation.
The respondent, represented by Mr SD Gill, on the other hand, challenged it claiming that the deceased person did not generate any revenue. They also raised concerns about the claim’s veracity. The bench highlighted the ‘Lata Wadhwa & Others versus State of Bihar & Others’ case, which recognised and highlighted that housewives actively contribute to household and family management.
According to the Supreme Court’s stance, women take on a variety of obligations within their homes, and even housewives are entitled to income. In this case, the High Court noted that the deceased widow made an estimated annual contribution of ₹ 24,000 to the household, after deducting her personal expenses.
To compute the compensation sum, the Court used a multiplier of 13 based on the second schedule of the Motor Vehicles Act. As a result, the appeal was granted, and the judgement of the Tribunal was changed. The compensation sum was increased from ₹ 15,000 to ₹ 3,21,500, plus six per cent interest from the moment the case was filed until the whole amount was realised.