Married kin cannot be deprived of accident compensation: HC

The Madras High Court on Friday held that excluding married daughters and siblings of those who succumb in motor accidents from claiming compensation for the death would be against the object of the Motor Vehicles Act.

Dismissing an appeal filed by an insurance company challenging the order of a Motor Accident Claims Tribunal in Kumbakonam to grant compensation to a married sister of a deceased person, Justices S Manikumar and R Mahadevan said: “Marriage of a kin could not be a reason to deny compensation”.

“That is what various Supreme Court decisions and Motor Vehicles Act-1939 and Workmen’s Compensation Act say”, the judges said.

The Workmen’s Act listed the “dependants” who were entitled to claim compensation under that legislation and it did not confer a statutory right on a married daughter.However, the 1939 Act stated: “All legal representatives of the deceased were entitled to claim compensation”, the judges said.

The judges noted that there was a distinction between being dependent on the income of the deceased and receiving a contribution from the deceased, either monetarily or through the services rendered by the deceased to the members of the family, and the same was a decisive factor in computing the compensation.