NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday awarded the insurance compensation to a Punjab widow and her three children for the death of her husband 22 years ago in a road accident at Rajpura on November 18, 1998.

Deceased, Satpal Singh, was riding a scooter with his wife Satinder Kaur on the pillion when he had a head-on collision with a Maruti car. The wife was also seriously injured, leading to 25% disability as a rod was inserted in her leg and she remained in plaster for about seven to eight months. Satpal was employed as a labourer and residing in Doha, Qatar since 1984 and he was visiting India.

The compensation was ordered with 12 weeks of the verdict by a Bench of Justices S Abdul Nazeer, Indu Malhotra an Aniruddha Bose that was pronounced by vacation judge Justice Malhotra as the only case listed in the Apex Court on Tuesday. The Bench also ordered interest @ 12% per annum from the date of filing the claim petition.

The Court noted that the widow had suffered permanent disability of 25% in this accident, but she single-handedly raised her three minor children, and eked out her livelihood through agricultural activity.

It directed 50% of the total compensation (inclusive of interest) to the widow and the balance 50% divided equally between the three children. Satpal was 40 years old at the time of his death and so the court worked out the loss of dependency payable to compensation at R 37,75,125 and awarded the total compensation of Rs 19,82,563.

Source: Kashmir Times

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