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The Supreme Court has observed that it is not justified to award compensation for loss of love and affection as a separate head, in addition to awarding compensation for loss of consortium.
The three-judge bench of Supreme Court comprising of Justices S. Abdul Nazeer, Indu Malhotra and Aniruddha Bose observed that the head loss of love and affection is comprehended in loss of consortium which is a legitimate conventional head.
The court gave this judgement while considering the appeals filed against the judgement of the high court by both the claimant and the insurance company. The claimants had passed away in a motor vehicle accident in 1998.
In the judgement, the bench reiterated the principles for assessment of compensation in accidental death cases. The judgement refers mainly to the guidelines provided in the case of Sarla Verma and others V. Delhi transport corporation and another, regarding ascertaining the multiplicand, ascertaining the multiplier and the actual collection. The court observed that the criteria relevant to take into consideration while assessment of compensation in the case of death are:
The court, in this case, found it is necessary to provide uniformity to the procedure of grant of consortium and loss of love and affection.
The court said that “several tribunals and High courts have been awarding the compensation for both the loss of consortium and loss of love and affection”, while the court in the case of Pranay Sethi has recognised only three heads for granting the compensation that is the loss of estate, loss of consortium and funeral expenses.
The court also said that in the case of Magma General a comprehensive interpretation has been provided to the consortium to include spousal consortium, parental consortium, as well as a filial consortium and hence the loss of love and affection, is included in the loss of consortium.
The court also directed the HC and the tribunals to award compensation for the loss of consortium and there is no justification in awarding compensation on the basis of love and affection.
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