Count labour, sacrifices in homemakers' notional income, says SC

Spotlighting the issue of gender inequality, the Supreme Court on Tuesday observed that that the notional income of homemakers must be calculated on the basis of the 'work, labour, and sacrifices' that they put in, according to an NDTV report.

A three-judge bench of Justices N V Ramana, Abdul Nazeer, and Surya Kant said this while delivering its judgement in a case involving an insurance compensation. The case was in relation to the death of a couple - the husband, a teacher, and his wife, a homemaker who looked after their two children - in an accident in 2014.

"The sheer amount of time and effort that is dedicated to household work by individuals, who are more likely to be women than men, is not surprising when one considers the plethora of activities a housemaker undertakes," the report quoted Justice Ramana stating in his judgement.

"A housemaker often prepares food for the entire family, manages the procurement of groceries and other household shopping needs, cleans and manages the house and its surroundings, undertakes decoration, repairs and maintenance work, looks after the needs of the children and any aged member of the household, manages budgets and so much more," wrote Justice Ramana.

Fixing a notional income for a homemaker, Justice Ramana said, would signal to the society that the "law and the courts of the land believe in the value of the labour, services and sacrifices of homemakers".

While a tribunal had initially directed the insurance company to pay Rs 40.71 lakh as compensation to the family, the Delhi High Court, after hearing an appeal, had brought that sum down to Rs 22 lakh. The Supreme Court has ordered the company to pay Rs 33.20 lakh within a two-month period with 9% interest from the year they passed away.