The Supreme Court has reiterated that the children and the parents of the deceased are entitled to motor accident compensation for loss of consortium.

The appeal before the Apex Court was filed by the widow, three minor children and parents of a man who died in a motor accident.

The Division Bench of Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice K. Vinod Chandran said, “Insofar as the loss of consortium, it has been held in New India Assurance Company v. Somwati and Ors. that even the children and the parents are entitled to compensation for loss of consortium.”

Factual Background

The deceased was the driver of a truck in which a helper/cleaner was accompanying him. The driver had alighted after parking the truck, and when he was boarding the truck, another truck driven rashly and negligently hit him, and he died on the spot. The helper/cleaner who was PW2 before the Tribunal, admitted him to the hospital and gave a First Information Statement leading to the registration of an FIR.

The claimants approached the Tribunal seeking compensation for the death of the breadwinner of the family, who was 28 years old when he met with the accident and succumbed. The Tribunal awarded a total amount of Rs 23,07,000 to the dependents. The wife was granted loss of consortium @ Rs.40,000, the children @ Rs.25,000 each and the parents @ Rs.10,000 each. When the Insurance Company filed the appeal, there was a deduction of the deceased’s salary, and the claimants were granted only Rs 40,000 towards loss of consortium. The amount awarded was reduced to Rs 12,34,105. Aggrieved thereby, the appellants approached the Apex Court.

Reasoning

The Bench, at the outset, said, “We find no reason to accede to the reduction of income as done by the High Court.”

Noting that the accident occured in 2014, the Bench referred to the judgment in Ramachandrappa v. Royal Sundaram Alliance Insurance Co. Ltd (2011) wherein it has been held that even a coolie would get an income of Rs.4,500 in the year 2004. The Bench noticed that an unskilled labourer, considering the marginal and incremental increase in each successive year @ Rs.500 per year, would be entitled to get almost Rs.10,000 in the year 2014.

The Bench was of the view that no enhancement was required since no appeal was filed by the claimants from the award of the Tribunal. “Still the award made as compensation for loss of consortium to the children and the parents by the Tribunal has to be retained”, the Bench said while setting aside the order of the High Court and restoring the order of the Tribunal.

Allowing the appeal, the Bench ordered, “The amounts, with interest, as awarded by the Tribunal shall be disbursed to the claimants within a period of two months, which shall be equally apportioned in the name of the wife, children and parents.”

Cause Title: Hansa Devi & Ors. v. SBI General Insurance Company imited & Anr. (Neutral Citation: 2025 INSC 706)

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Justice Sudhanshu DhuliaChief Justice K Vinod Chandran

Tulip Kanth

Assistant Editor

Tulip Kanth is an Assistant Editor at Verdictum having over 5 years of experience in the field of legal journalism and editing. She extensively covers judgments of the Supreme Court, High Courts as well as Tribunals. She has previously worked with a legal publishing website where she oversaw the work of other editors and has also created updates on notifications of different Government Ministries. She holds an English Honours Degree from SGTB Khalsa College, Delhi University and has completed her LLB course with specialisation in Corporate Law from Amity University.