A Bangalore woman, who lost her 18 year-old son in an accident involving a Bangalore city bus a decade back, appealed to the Supreme Court to compensate her for the “loss of love and affection”.

After advocate Kiran Suri submitted that Sarojamma had lost her son Raj Kumar in the accident while travelling in a Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) bus and that she should be adequately compensated, a bench of Justices S B Sinha and V S Sirpurkar directed the corporation to pay the compensation at the earliest.
“It is not a fit case where this Court should exercise its discretionary jurisdiction under Article 136 of the Constitution. Keeping in view of the fact that the mother has lost her only son, the Motor Vehicle Claims Tribunal should have awarded compensation towards loss of estate; and loss of love and affection,” Ms Suri pleaded during the arguments.

Amount justified

While dismissing the plea of the corporation, the bench justified the award given to the parents of Raj Kumar, who was a tutor and earning about Rs 3,000 per month. At the time his death, Kumar was admitted to the Army Teachers Training institute to become a teacher.

Kumar met with an accident while travelling in a BMTC bus on November 25, 1998. Even though he died on a later date, the cause of the death has been attributed to the accident.The BMTC had challenged the ruling of the Karnataka High Court which had upheld the order of the Tribunal which had asked the authorities to pay Rs 3,64,500 (Rs3,60,000 + 2,000 + 2,500) at a rate of interest of 10 percent at a multiplier of 15.

However, the Tribunal had awarded Rs 3,84,000/-, applying the multiplier of 16 at a rate of interest of 7 percent.
The Supreme Court has reduced the rate of interest from 10 percent to 7 percent and the multiplier of 15 would remain for the final calculation of the amount.

Funeral expenses

Ms Suri said apart from the compensation, the court should also consider for the payment of funeral expenses, loss of consortium (if beneficiary is the spouse), loss of estate, medical expenses etc.