Karnataka HC Raises Husband And Two Children’s Compensation By ₹24.19 Lakh, Valuing Homemaker’s Domestic Care At ₹30,000 A Month

The claimants— the deceased Bhagya’s husband and two children—sought compensation for her death in a road accident on 1 June 2024.

The Motor Accident Claims Tribunal awarded total compensation of ₹34,24,398, including ₹29,56,800 for loss of dependency, and interest at 6% per annum.

The claimants appealed, seeking enhancement on the ground that Bhagya was both a homemaker and a tailor.

The High Court noted that her tailoring income had not been proved.

Section 173(1) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 provides for an appeal against a motor accident compensation award.

Relying on Shishu Pal @ Shish Ram & Others v. Surjeet & Others, 2026 INSC 634, the Court applied the rule that ₹30,000 per month may be taken as the stand-in basic monthly income for a homemaker’s domestic care where no conventional monetary income is established; where the homemaker is also part of the workforce, domestic care is additional to proved income.

The ₹30,000 figure is subject to cumulative revision of 10% every three years.

The Court also applied a 40% addition for future prospects, a one-third deduction for personal expenses, and a multiplier of 16 for the deceased’s age of 34.

The Court found that Bhagya’s tailoring income was not proved, but accepted that she was a homemaker whose death deprived her husband and children of domestic care.

Applying Shishu Pal, it treated ₹30,000 per month as the applicable stand-in income, added 40% for future prospects, deducted one-third for personal expenses, and applied a multiplier of 16.

This produced loss of dependency of ₹53,76,000, compared with the Tribunal’s award of ₹29,56,800.

As the claimants did not seek enhancement under the other heads, the Court left those amounts undisturbed.

The Court awarded an additional ₹24,19,200 for loss of dependency, with interest at 6% per annum from the date of the petition until realization.

The insurer was directed to deposit the enhanced amount with interest before the Tribunal within six weeks.

The enhanced compensation was apportioned 30:35:35 among claimants 1 to 3; the minor claimant’s share was to be kept in fixed deposit until she attained majority, while the shares of claimants 1 and 2 were to be released.