Government Benefits To Deceased Employee Deductible From Compensation:Supreme Court

In a recent case, the Supreme Court observed that the family of a deceased in a motor accident cannot seek "double benefits". If the family has received benefits from the State Government on account of the death of the deceased, then such benefits are liable to be deducted from the compensation payable under the Motor Vehicles Act. The Motor Accident Claims Tribunal rejected the claim of the appellant on the note that the sum of Rs.31,37,665/- was to be received from the State Government under Haryana Compassionate Assistance to Dependents of Deceased Government Employees, Rules, 2006 and this amount was more than the compensation to which the claimants were found entitled to. In the Shashi Sharma case, the court held that the amount received or receivable by dependants of the deceased from the employer by way of ex gratia financial assistance on compassionate grounds can be deducted from the quantum of compensation fixed by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal under the head “pay and other allowances. “If the dependants of the deceased employee, however, were to be compensated by the employer in that behalf, as is predicated by the Rules of 2006 - to grant compassionate assistance by way of ex gratia financial assistance on compassionate grounds to the dependants of the deceased government employee, who dies in harness, it is unfathomable that the dependants can still be permitted to claim the same amount as a possible or likely loss of income to be suffered by them to maintain a claim for compensation under the Act of 1988.”, the court observed in Shashi Sharma.