Supreme Court
In one of its orders, the Supreme Court has asked to consider the price of work of housewives as Rs 30 thousand per month. Actually, if a housewife died in a road accident, then the compensation to her family in motor accident claims was calculated considering the housewife’s monthly income as zero, but now if a housewife died in a road accident, then the compensation to her family would have to be calculated according to the housewife’s monthly income of Rs 30 thousand.
This historic decision came in a case related to a road accident in Punjab. In November 2001, a woman named Reshma died in a road accident. After this, her husband and three children demanded compensation in the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal. Although the tribunal had given its verdict in 2003, the case continued in the courts. Finally, in 2024, the Punjab and Haryana High Court gave its decision on this. That means it took more than 20 years for the victim’s family to get justice.
Housewives’ work cannot be measured by wages
Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice N. Kotishwar Singh’s bench rejected the old thinking, in which the estimated income of housewives was compared with the wages of skilled labourers. The Supreme Court said that managing the house, taking care of children and taking care of the needs of the family is such work whose real social and economic value cannot be measured by the scale of normal wages.
The court said that the term “housewife” should now get the status of “nation builder” as their contribution is extremely important for the society and the country.
New principle of monthly valuation of Rs 30,000
Delivering the verdict, Justice Karol said that the court has set a new principle, under which the loss of domestic care and work will be assessed on the basis of at least Rs 30,000 per month. This amount will be in addition to other legal compensation provisions.
This arrangement is based on the Supreme Court’s famous National Insurance Co. decision already implemented to decide compensation under the Motor Vehicles Act. Ltd. v. Pranay Sethi will remain in force with the decision.
The court has already agreed
The Supreme Court has already said in many cases that the unpaid domestic work of housewives cannot be underestimated. The court reiterated that a woman’s contribution cannot be ignored just because she is not paid for it.
Concern also expressed over delay in compensation cases
The Supreme Court also expressed concern over the long delays in road accident compensation cases. The court said that when the aggrieved families have to wait for decades to get relief, the welfare objective of the Motor Vehicles Act is defeated.
The court has urged the Chief Justices of all High Courts to monitor such cases and try to settle the compensation claims within a year.
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