New Delhi: Any amount of compensation paid to family members following the death of a homemaker cannot make up for the love, care, and warmth provided by her to her family, the Delhi high court has observed.Justice Gaurang Kanth was hearing an appeal filed by an insurance company challenging an order passed by the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal (MACT). The tribunal had directed the firm to pay Rs 17.38 lakh to the claimants for the loss of their family members in a motor accident.The insurance company moved the court arguing that in the absence of proof of income and education, the notional income of a homemaker cannot be computed based on the Minimum Wages Act. It also said the MACT wrongly computed the notional income of the particular homemaker. The company also went on to say that MACT did not deduct any amount towards personal expenses and added 25% towards assumed income for calculating future increase of income while calculating “loss of dependency”.In response to this, Justice Kanth said one cannot “accurately quantify” monetary compensation no matter how “skilfully courts and tribunal deal with the same”.“As complex and uphill a task as it can be, computation of an award to compensate for the death of a homemaker demands a wider approach, considering the multi-faceted gratuitous services provided by a homemaker to her family. This court is cognizant of the role played by a housewife as a wife, mother, daughter, daughter-in-law, etc. which cannot be accurately quantified in terms of monetary form, no matter how skilfully courts and tribunal deal with the same,” Times of India quoted Justice Kanth as saying.The judge further went on to underscore that monetary compensation can only provide a “financial cushion” to the bereaved family, but cannot “make up for the love, care, and warmth provided by a mother or a wife to her family”.While rejecting the firm’s argument that MACT wrongly calculated the amount to be paid to claimants, Justice Kanth said there is nothing wrong in the MACT order given that courts have to determine the notional income of the deceased based on minimum wages notified under the Minimum Wages Act in the absence of evidence. The court ordered the firm to pay the family a compensation of Rs 15.95 lakh.
