When a child dies his education should be taken note of
In an accident when a person dies the compensation is assessed based on his earning capacity and his age.
But when a child dies in an accident, then while deciding the compensation child’s educational qualification and his performance in school will have to be considered. If the child was good in his studies, then he would get more compensation. But there is no standard way of calculating claim in case of death of a child.
SC decisions in the case of child
The Supreme Court (SC) in Kurvan Ansari v Shyam Kishore Murmu says that in spite of repeated directions, the Scheduled-II of MV Act (deleted in 2019 M V Act amendment and had errors) was not amended and therefore, fixing notional income of Rs 15,000 per annum for non-earning members is not just and reasonable. Hence, the SC, in the above case, decided to take the notional income of a deceased child of a child studying in class II at Rs 25,000 per annum, assuming it as a non-earning member and used appropriate multiplier to arrive at a reasonable compensation.
in Kishan Gopal and Another v Lala and Others [(2014) 1 SCC 244], relating to the death of a 10 year old child in the year 1992, the SC took the notional income to be Rs.30,000/-.
KHC decided Rs 30000/ as loss of dependency
Kerala High Court (KHC) says it will be justified and prudent for it to adopt Rs.30,000/- as the notional income of the deceased child in the case Bijumon & Ors v The New India Assurance Co.
In case of permanent disability of a child
In the case of permanent disability of a child, the SC in Master Mallikarjun v National Insurance Company Ltd provides different slabs for different age group.
The SC adds that the appropriate compensation on all other heads in addition to the actual expenditure for treatment, attendant, etc., should be, if the disability is above 10% and up to 30% to the whole body, Rs.3 lakhs; up to 60%, Rs.4 lakhs; up to 90%, Rs.5 lakhs and above 90%, it should be Rs.6 lakhs. For permanent disability up to 10%, it should be Re.1 lakh, unless there are exceptional circumstances to take different yardstick.
In proving disability, it is always better to bring the doctor as a witness to prove the extent of disability directly rather than with the certificate alone.
Additional reading
- Sarla Verma v Delhi Transport Corporation & Anr (2009) 6 SCC 121,
- Reshma Kumari & Ors v Madan Mohan & Anr
- National Insurance Co. Ltd. v Pranay Sethi & Ors (2017) 16 SCC 680
- Gohar Mohammed v UP State Road Transport Corporation [CA No 9322 of 2022 delivered on 15th December 2022]
- Rajkumar v Ajay Kumar [(2011)1 SCC 343]
