The story so far : The High Court of Karnataka, in a judgment arising out of a motor accident compensation dispute with Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) in a 2013 bus accident, has said that “Any individual who tirelessly strives, showers unconditional love, sacrifices personal comfort at times and ultimately becomes a pillar for happy and stable family is a homemaker.”
In the opinion of the court, even a working woman or a professional can be considered a home maker so long as such woman renders services at home taking care and looking after the welfare of the family members. Any individual who tirelessly strives, showers unconditional love, sacrifices personal comfort at times and ultimately becomes the pillar for a happy and stable family is a homemaker. These qualities are illustrative but not exhaustive.
The court observed that every woman who renders services to her family members at home is liable to be regarded as a “homemaker” irrespective of the fact that she holds higher a qualification, let it be a degree, postgraduate degree or a doctorate.
The court took her notional income as ₹8,000 per month, based on the notional income fixed by the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority for the relevant period. The court noted that the word ‘homemaker’ is gender-neutral. A homemaker thus can be male or female. It also covers working person or bread winner or wage earner. In that case, the court observed that ascertainment of the effect of the permanent disability on the actual earning capacity involves three steps.
Therefore, the court held that the claimant in this case can well be considered a home maker. The tribunal has to first ascertain what activities the claimant could carry on in spite of the permanent disability and what he could not do as a result of the permanent disability.
The second step is to ascertain his avocation, profession and nature of work before the accident, as also his age, and the third step is to find out whether the claimant is totally disabled from earning any kind of livelihood.
