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Supreme Court of India 2020-01-13 partly_allowed

National Insurance Company Limited vs Birender and Ors

Bench: 2 — A.M. Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari

In Brief

A motorcycle rider fatally collided with a dumper truck while traveling as a pillion passenger to her workplace. Her major married sons, working as agricultural laborers, claimed compensation as legal representatives. The National Insurance Company disputed liability and argued the sons, being earning adults, could not claim loss of dependency. The Supreme Court held that legal representatives—regardless of their employment status—have the right to claim compensation under the Motor Vehicles Act. It also clarified that welfare benefits to government employees' families should not be fully deducted from motor accident compensation, and that personal expense deductions should be one-third (not 50%) for 2-3 dependents. The Court partly allowed the appeals, recalculating compensation based on these principles and requiring the claimants to declare they had not claimed welfare benefits."

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Motor Vehicles Act Personal Injury Compensation Loss of Dependency Insurance Law Government Employee Benefits

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