The court affirmed that compensation for homemakers must reflect their invaluable contributions and include future prospects, recognizing the loss of an unborn child as compensable.

JUDGMENT

1. Instant appeal has been preferred by the appellantsclaimants against the judgment and award dtd. 5/3/2012 passed by Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Jaipur City, Jaipur in Claim Case No.307/2002 whereby the Tribunal has partly allowed the claim filed by the claimants and awarded a sum of Rs.3,35,000.00 to the claimants with interest @ 6% w.e.f. the date of filing of the claim petition.

2. A claim petition was filed by the claimants-appellants on account of death of Savita and unborn child in an accident which occurred on 15/2/2000. In the said accident, the deceased Savita and child in her womb also died. The Tribunal after framing the issue and evaluating the evidence brought on record decided the claim petition.

3. Learned counsel for the appellant has assailed findings recorded by the Tribunal of issue No.4. He submits that the deceased Savita was 30 years of age at the time of accident and she was pregnant and she was carrying pregnancy of child in her womb. He further submits that the deceased was running a beauty parlor and she was doing the work of unkeep of the house, maintenance of the daughter and cooking food for the family etc. Therefore, involvement of the deceased in each and every work of the house cannot be quantified in terms of money but at the same time deprivation of the same has huge impact on the entire family. To buttress his contention, learned counsel relies upon the judgment of Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of Arun Kumar Agrawal & Anr. Vs. National Insurance Company & Ors. reported in 2010 MACD (SC) 223.

4. Counsel for the appellant further submits that the Tribunal committed an error in not calculating the amount of compensation in the light of the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court rendered in the case of National Insurance Company Ltd. Vs. Pranay Sethi reported in (2017) SC 5157. He further submits that though loss of the deceased for the entire family cannot be quantified but for rough assessment of the compensation in the present case, the calculation may be done in the light of the judgment of Supreme Court in the case of National Insurance Company Ltd. Vs. Pranay Sethi (supra). It is also contended on behalf of the appellants that in the said accident unborn child of the appellant No.1 and the deceased Savita also died and in view of the judgment passed by this Court in the case of Smt. Sonia Giri Vs. Bhava Ram and Ors., decided on 14/10/2019 in S.B. Civil Misc. Appeal No.1281/2010 the appellants are entitled to get compensation of Rs.2,50,000.00.

5. Per contra, learned counsel appearing for the respondent submits that the findings arrived at by the Tribunal on issue No.4 do not suffer from any infirmity as no documentary proof was submitted before the Tribunal showing annual income of the deceased and no documentary proof was submitted to prove the fact that the deceased was running a beauty parlor. Hence, the Tribunal has rightly awarded compensation of Rs.3,35,000.00 in favour of the appellant-claimants. Therefore, he prays that the judgment and award passed by the Tribunal does not warrant any interference by this Court and the same may be upheld.

6. I have considered the submissions made at bar and gone through the judgment dtd. 5/3/2012 passed by the Tribunal as also perused the relevant record of the case.

7. The factum of accident is not disputed in the present case, the factum of death of Savita and her unborn child is also not disputed, the age of the deceased being 30 years is admitted. The fact of dependency in the family is not disputed. In the humble opinion of this Court, the Tribunal has committed an error in awarding a compensation of Rs.3,35,000.00 only to the claimantappellants. The Tribunal has lost a site on the fact that the roll of women in the domestic life is un-parallel and as she is involved in almost each and every affair starting from upkeep of the house, maintenance of the children and cooking food etc. The contribution of a lady who is a house keeper