Homemaker's Contribution as Valuable as Salary Earners: Supreme Court

New Delhi: Terming the contribution of a homemaker invaluable, the Supreme Court on Friday noted that the value of a woman’s household work is equally important as that of a salary-earning spouse. The apex court was hearing a motor accident case arising out the unfortunate death of a Uttarakhand woman from a road accident in 2006.

The two-judge SC bench observed that the value of a woman who looks after the household is of a ‘high order’ and that her contributions are hard to quantify in monetary terms. Simultaneously, the top court added, tribunals and courts ought to calculate the notional income of “homemakers” based on their sacrifices, work and labour in cases of accident claims.

The court noted that the role of a homemaker is as significant as that of a family member whose income is tangible and if the activities performed by them are calculated one by one, there cannot be any doubt that the contribution is of a high order and is invaluable. It was noted that it is difficult to compute her contributions only in monetary terms.

The case pertains to a woman who had died in 2016 and the vehicle she was travelling in was not insured so the liability to pay her family the compensation fell on the owner of the vehicle.

Thereafter, a motor accident claims tribunal awarded her family, comprising her husband and minor son, compensation of Rs 2.5 lakh but the family appealed in the Uttarakhand high court for higher compensation, but their plea was dismissed by the court in 2017.

The high court, in its order, had observed that the deceased was a ‘homemake’ and hence, the compensation had to be fixed on the basis of her life expectancy and a bare minimum notional income. The HC had found no infirmities in the tribunal’s order that treated the woman’s notional income as less than that of a daily labourer.

The high court found no infirmities in the tribunal’s order that treated the woman’s notional income as less than that of a daily labourer. While hearing the appeal against the high court order, the apex court disapproved of this stance on Friday. It criticised the high court for adopting an outdated approach.

The apex court questioned how a homemaker’s income can be treated as less than that of a daily wager. It added that they don’t accept such an approach.