New Delhi:
Ruling that remarriage will not deprive a person from compensation for the death of her spouse, the Delhi High Court has awarded about Rs 3 lakh to a woman whose husband was killed in a bomb explosion in a DTC bus 18 years ago.
"I hold that remarriage/possibility of the remarriage will not deprive a person from compensation for the death of his/her spouse....," said Justice J R Midha in a judgment recently and enhanced the Motor Accident Claim Tribunal's award from Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 2.96 lakh.
The court also directed DTC to pay the amount with a rate of 7.5 per cent per annum and the money to be deposited with UCO bank account of Delhi High Court branch.
Specifying that 50 per cent of the awarded amount would be transferred to the wife's account and rest of the money will be kept in a fixed deposit for two children.
The court rejected the arguments of DTC counsel that three years after the death of Sansar Pal, his widow married again and she was, therefore, not entitled to compensation.
The court also rejected DTC's another argument that it was not an accident caused by the driver due to rash and negligent act and the victim deserved no compensation.
Sansar Pal, who was working as a supervisor in a private company and earning Rs 2000 per month, was killed in a bomb explosion in a DTC bus on January 29, 1992, leaving behind his widow and two minor children.