In case of a motor accident death, the claimant can be denied parental consortium if he is no more a ‘child’: Telangana High court
A compensation under the head of the parental consortium was denied to a claimant who of 50 years old, by the Telangana High Court in the case of Madeenam Raju v. B.Sainath and another (M.A.C.M.A.No.267 of 2018) decided by Justice G. Anupama Chakravarthy, according to who the appellant is not a ‘child’, to be eligible for such compensation.
Facts of the case: In this case, the appellant filed an appeal asking for the right compensation as he was aggrieved by the decree given by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal. According to him, he was entitled to a compensation of 6,00,000 but to his dismay, the tribunal awarded him an amount of 1,96,000 only. The deceased who passed in the accident due to the negligence of respondent 1, was the mother of the claimant, who use to earn 15,000 per month by selling vegetables.
The counsel for appeal contended that he is the son of the deceased and was entitled to compensation towards parental consortium but the 2nd respondent which is the insurance company, argued that the claimant was not entitled to the parental consortium as he no more falls under the definition of ‘child’.
Judgment: As seen in the Magma General Insurance Case, a Parental consortium under this act is a type of compensation that is awarded to children who lost their parent in a motor vehicle accident. This is only granted when there exists a pre-mature death of one of the parents due to an accident. Its a compensation given to the child for loss of parental aid, affection, protection, discipline, society, guidance, training, etc. Therefore, in the aforesaid case, the claimant asking for compensation is a 50-year-old man and as such he cannot be entitled to compensation under the head of the parental consortium.
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JUDGEMENT REVIEWED BY MANAL NASEEM