Motor Accident Claims | Unemployed Husband Can Be Presumed To Be Partially Dependent On Deceased Wife's Income : Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Wednesday (April 29) held that, in determining insurance compensation, the deceased's husband cannot be excluded as a dependent merely because he is an able-bodied man. The Court emphasized that in the absence of proof of the husband's employment status, his dependency on the deceased's income cannot be disregarded and would be treated as partially dependent on his wife's income.

Holding thus, the bench comprising Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and K. Vinod Chandran treated the deceased's husband, whose employment status was unproven, along with her children, as dependents, thereby entitling them to claim insurance compensation.

“we are of the opinion that since there was no employment specified of the husband, it cannot be assumed that he would not have been at least partially dependent on the income of the deceased.”, the court said.

The case concerned a motor accident claim under the Motor Vehicles Act arising from the death of a woman pillion rider on 22.02.2015. The appellants (her husband and two children) sought compensation for her death. Treating only the two children as dependents and excluding the husband, the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) awarded a total compensation of ₹18,81,966, including ₹13.44 lakhs for loss of dependency.

The finding recorded was that the husband of the deceased was not a dependent since he was an able-bodied person of 40 years.

The insurance company challenged this award before the High Court, primarily on the grounds of alleged lack of negligence and overvaluation of compensation.

The judgment authored by Justice Chandran affirmed the High Court's findings regarding the negligence but touched upon the aspect of denying the status of dependent to the deceased husband just because he is an able person (not dependent on the deceased's income).

The Court disagreed with the MACT holding that the husband's employment status was not proved, and hence, he may be at least partially dependent.

Accordingly, the Court included the deceased husband as her dependent and allowed their claims to be recalculated 

Case Title: SRI MALAKAPPA & ORS. VERSUS THE IFFCO TOKIO GENERAL INSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED & ANR.

Citation : 2025 LiveLaw (SC) 511

Click here to read/download the judgment

Appearance:

For Petitioner(s) Mr. Chinmay Deshpande, Adv. Mr. V. N. Raghupathy, AOR

For Respondent(s) Mr. Suyash Vyas, Adv. Mr. Gopal Singh, AOR