SC: Include DA and HRA while calculating accident compensati

The Supreme Court has held that while calculating the amount of compensation in an accident case the Dearness Allowances and House Rent Allowances of the victim should also be included in his income.

A Bench comprising Justices S B Sinha and Dr Mukundkam Sharma while sending the accident claim case to the trial court said ‘DA, in our opinion, should form part of income.

‘HRA is paid for the benefit of family members and not for the employees alone .

‘We, therefore, are of the opinion that DA and HRA payable to the deceased should have been included for determining the income of the deceased and consequently the amount of compensation.

‘For the reason aforementioned, we direct that in calculating the amount of compensation the DA as also the HRA should be taken into consideration,’ the bench said.

The accident had taken place on November 30, 2002 and an lady assistant teacher, Puspa Matolya was killed when the tata sumo in which she was travelling dashed against a mango tree.

She was due to retire on February 28, 2011 .The motor accident claim tribunal(MACT) awarded her family a compensation of Rs 3.38 Lakh. The Madhya Pradesh High Court enhanced the amount of compensation to Rs 5.28 Lakh. The family members of the deceased Raghvir Singh Matolya and others were not satisfied with the amount of compensation and approached the Supreme Court for further increase by including DA and HRA.