High Court: Only statutory dues can be deducted from accident claims

The Aurangabad bench of the Bombay high court (HC) last week observed that no other amount except statutory dues are allowed to be deducted while computing the compensation for motor accident claims.

“It is well-settled that except the statutory deduction to be made towards income tax, professional tax, no other deduction is permissible under law. The deduction from salary of the deceased towards insurance, pensionary benefits, gratuity or grant of employment to kin of deceased is not permissible,” said justice VL Achliya, while hearing an appeal filed by an Ahmednagar resident.

The appellant had challenged an order passed by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Ahmednagar, in December 2011, granting only ₹9-lakh compensation to her and her aged in-laws on the account of her husband’s death in an accident.

The appellant claimed that the accident took place on June 2, 2007, barely three months after her marriage, while the couple was travelling from Pune to Ahmednagar. Her husband, a sepoy in Indian Army, was riding a bike, while she was seated pillion.

When the couple reached near Kamargaon village, a state transport corporation bus hit their bike and the two-wheeler was thrown off the road. The woman’s husband died owing to a severe head injury, while she also sustained severe injuries.

The woman later filed a motor accident claim, claiming compensation of ₹15.5 lakh from Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC), which owned the bus. After the tribunal’s decision to compensate her with ₹9 lakh, she moved HC in 2012 seeking enhancement in compensation.

Her counsel pointed out that the tribunal had wrongly deducted the amount of pension being received by the appellant from her claim, and this reduced the amount of compensation to be received by her.

HC accepted the argument presented by the woman’s counsel. Justice Achliya found that the assessment of compensation made by the tribunal was against the settled position in law, and held that the woman was entitled to ₹23.52 lakh as compensation, of which 50% will be paid to her, while the remaining half to her parents-in-law.

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