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In absence of salary certificate, minimum wage notification is not automatically applicable to fix income

In Chandra @ Chanda @ Chandraram & Anr. vs Mukesh Kumar Yadav & Ors., driver of a heavy commercial vehicle died in an accident while on duty. His wife claimed compensation based on a salary of Rs. 15000/- pm but as they could not produce any evidence in support, the Tribunal fixed the monthly income of the deceased by adopting minimum wage notified for the skilled labour in the year 2016.

Appeal against such low compensation was rejected by the High Court. The Supreme Court however opined that in absence of salary certificate the minimum wage notification can be a yardstick but at the same time cannot be an absolute one to fix the income of the deceased. In absence of documentary evidence on record some amount of guesswork is required to be done. But at the same time the guesswork for assessing the income of the deceased should not be totally detached from reality. Merely because claimants were unable to produce documentary evidence to show the monthly income of the deceased Shivpal, same does not justify adoption of lowest tier of minimum wage while computing the income. There is no reason to discard the oral evidence of the wife of the deceased who has deposed that late Shivpal was earning around Rs.15000/­ per month when it is clearly proved that the deceased was in possession of heavy vehicle driving licence and was driving such vehicle on the day of accident and  there is demand for good drivers.


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