The Delhi High Court has ruled out that parents are dependent on their children at certain stages of life and denying compensation to those who have lost their child in a road accident would be unjust.
Justice JR Midha stated that even if the parents were not reliant on their children during the time of the accident, they will undoubtedly, both financially and emotionally dependent on their children at the later stage of their life, as the children were dependent upon their parents in their initial years.
The high court's observations came while granting damages for loss of dependency to a woman, who lost her 23-year-old son in a road accident in 2008 and increased the award amount from ₹ 2.42 lakh to ₹ 6.80 lakh.
The motor accident claims tribunal had said that though the accident happened due to rash and careless driving of the offending vehicle do not qualify to compensation for loss of dependency but only to compensation for loss of the estate. It held that the victim’s father was serving with the Delhi police as Sub-Inspector and was, therefore, not dependent upon his son, while his mother cannot be said to be dependent upon the victim as her husband was employed with the Delhi Police.
However, the court observed that parents are considered in law as dependent on their children, considering that they are bound to support their parents in their old age when the parents would be unable to maintain themselves.
As the law requires the children to take responsibility of their parents for maintenance in the old age, the court added that "it would therefore be unfair as well as inequitable to deny compensation for loss of dependency to a parent, who may not be dependent on his/her child at the time of accident per se but would become dependent at him or her later age".
The high court further added that according to the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act and Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, children are responsible to provide for their parents in their old age and these legislations places legal rights on the parents to be supported by their children.
The high court has ordered to send this judgements copy to the Registrar General who shall distribute it to all Motor Accident Claims Tribunals to note that the principles relating to the loss to the estate in Keith Rowe judgement and Dinesh Adhlak judgement do not apply to the claim of the parents in respect of the death of their child, claim of children in respect of the death of their parents and claim of a spouse in respect of the death of his/her spouse in a motor accident.
The copy of this judgement should also be sent to Delhi Judicial Academy to sensitise the claims tribunals about the principles set by this court in this verdict.