New Delhi, April 9
The Supreme Court has ruled that compensation awarded to road accident victims should cover the employees’ provident fund (EPF), house rent all insurance scheme (GIS), besides some amount for the loss of life/lives.

A Bench comprising Justices GS Singhvi and AK Ganguly passed a judgment to this effect while allowing an appeal filed by a Panchkula resident, Sunil Sharma, challenging the Punjab and Haryana High Court verdict.

The petitioner’s wife, Sunita Sharma (41), had died after being run over by a vehicle when she was returning to Panchkula from Chandigarh on her scooter in 2006. After this, her husband and two children filed a claim petition before the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT), seeking a compensation of Rs 40 lakh along with 24 per cent interest.

As an employee of Haryana Women Development Corporation Ltd, Sunita was getting a gross salary of Rs 14,541 a month. However, the MACT took the salary as Rs 10,000 after deducting HRA, CCA and medical allowance and made a further deduction of 40 per cent as her personal expenses. It thus arrived at a figure of Rs 6,000 a month or Rs 72,000 a year. Multiplying Rs 72,000 by 11, it awarded a compensation of Rs 7.92 lakh to Sharma and his children.

The HC also adopted the same method, except for multiplying Rs 72,000 by 14, and awarded a compensation of Rs 10.08 lakh.

The SC, however, ruled that all these allowances should be taken into account while calculating the compensation. The apex court took Sunita’s monthly salary as Rs 15,351 (perhaps after adding the employer’s contribution to PF) and the annual income as Rs 1,84,212.

The apex court also ruled that the personal expenses of such victims should be only one-third of the annual income, not 40 per cent, as allowed by the MACT and the HC. After this one-third deduction, Sunita’s annual income was placed at Rs 1,22,808, which was rounded off to Rs 1,22,800. The Bench added a further 30 per cent (meant for those aged 40-50) to this on account of future prospects the victim would have enjoyed if she had survived and arrived at a figure of Rs 1,59,640 and multiplied this by 14, which came to Rs 22,34,960.

The Bench added another Rs 25,000 to compensate for the loss of love and affection and consortium, arising from the death of Sunita. It also ordered payment of 6 per cent interest from the date of filing of the claim petition. The compensation would have to be paid within three months of the verdict.