Case: Raghuvir Singh Matolya  Vs. Hari Singh Malviya

The deceased Puspa Matolya was travelling in a Tata Sumo on the fateful day, viz., 30.11.2002 at about 11.00 a.m. It dashed against a mango tree. She died on thethe deceased was an Assistant teacher in a primary school. The said school was a State-run one. She was to superannuate on 28.02.2011. She at the time of her death was aged about 52 years and 9 months. The salary certificate produced on behalf of the claimants -appellants showed that she was drawing a monthly salary of Rs.8611/- (Rs.6050/- basic pay, Rs.2481/- dearness allowance and Rs.80/- house rent) perTribunal, however, taking into consideration only the basic pay passed an award awarding compensation for a sum of Rs. 3,38,000/-. For the said purpose, the Tribunal applied the multiplier ofappeal in terms of Section 173(1) of the Act was preferred by the appellants.The High Court, by reason of the impugned judgment, enhanced the amount of compensation to Rs. 5,28,000/- by applying the multiplier of Still not satisfied with the quantum of compensation awarded in their favour, the appellants are before us.

Court's reasoning:
Dearness allowance, in our opinion, should form part of income. House rent allowance is paid for the benefit of the family members and not for the employee alone. What would constitute an income, albeit in a different fact situation, came up for consideration before this Court in National Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Indira Srivastava and Others [(2008) 2 SCC 763]  wherein it wasThe amounts, therefore, which were required to be paid to the deceased by his employer by way of perks, should be included for computation of his monthly income as that would have been added to his monthly income by way of contribution to the family as contradistinguished to the ones which were for his benefit. We may, however, hasten to add that from the said amount of income, the statutory amount of tax payable thereupon must be deducted.20. The term "income" in P. Ramanatha Aiyars Advanced Law Lexicon (3rd Edn.) has been defined as under:"The value of any benefit or perquisite whether convertible into money or not, obtained from a company either by a director or a person who has substantial interest in the company, and any sum paid by such company in respect of any obligation, which but for such payment would have been payable by the director or other person aforesaid, occurring or arising to a person within the State from any profession, trade or calling other than agriculture."It has also been stated:" `Income signifies `what comes in (per Selborne, C., Jones v. Ogle). `It is as large a word as can be used to denote a persons receipts (per Jessel, M.R., Re Huggins). Income is not confined to receipts from business only and means periodical receipts from ones work, lands, investments, etc. Secy. to the Board of Revenue, Income Tax v. Al. Ar. Rm. Arunachalam Chettiar & Brothers. Ref. Vulcun Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Corpn. of Madras.";21. If the dictionary meaning of the word "income" is taken to its logical conclusion, it should include those benefits, either in terms of money or otherwise, which are taken into consideration for the purpose of payment of income tax or professional tax although some elements thereof may or may not be taxable or would have been otherwise taxable but for the exemption conferred thereupon under thethe same effect is the decision of this Court in Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Ram Prasad Varma & Ors. [2009 (1) SCALE 598 ].We, therefore, are of the opinion that `Dearness Allowance and `House Rent Allowance payable to the deceased should have been included for determining the income of the deceased and consequently the amount of compensation.