COMPUTING ACCIDENT RELIEF

The Supreme Court held in the case, Raghuvir Singh vs. Hari Singh Malviya, that while calculating the compensation for the loss of income due to the death of a person in a motor vehicle accident, the dearness allowance and house rent allowance drawn by him should be taken into account. The motor accident claims tribunal took into account only the basic pay for computing the compensation under Section 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act. It was approved by the Madhya Pradesh high court. The Supreme Court set aside those rulings and stated that Dearness allowance should form part of income. House rent allowance is paid for the benefit of family members and not for the employee alone.