Self employed entitled to higher compensation: SC

Self-employed and those engaged in unorganised sector are also entitled to higher compensation for injuries and deaths in road accidents, the Supreme Court has ruled.

A bench of justices GS Singhvi and Sudhansu Jyoti Mukhopadhayay said judgements relating to accidents and land acquisitions should be revisited by courts in tune with the changing socio-economic conditions of the people.

"In our view, it will be naive to say that the wages or total emoluments/income of a person who is self-employed or who is employed on a fixed salary without provision for annual increment etc. would remain the same throughout his life.

The rise in the cost of living affects everyone across the board. It does not make any distinction between rich and poor, Justice Singhvi, writing the judgement, said.

The apex court passed the ruling while enhancing the compensation amount by Rs1.40 lakh to a woman Santosh Devi whose husband was killed in a road accident in Punjab in 1995.

The Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Gurdaspur(MACT) had pegged the compensation at Rs1,32,000 with interest at the rate of 12% per annum from the date of application, which was upheld by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, following which Devi had appealed in the apex court.

Both the lower courts had relied upon an earlier judgement of the apex court in the Sarla Verma case (2009) to state that the family was not entitled to a higher compensation as the deceased was self-employed. The two courts had also held that the two sons of the deceased cannot be treated as dependent as they were majors.