Bengaluru: The term ‘homemaker’ is gender neutral and can refer to a man or a woman regardless of educational qualification and includes someone who is also a working person, Karnataka high court has observed.The court said a homemaker is not defined merely by whether the person stays at home or is employed outside of it. “Any individual who strives, showers unconditional love, sacrifices personal comfort at times and ultimately becomes a pillar for a happy and stable family is a homemaker,” Justice Chillakur Sumalatha said in an order passed on Aug 4, adding the qualities listed above are “illustrative, but not exhaustive”.The court awarded nearly Rs 2 lakh more than Rs 4.5 lakh awarded by Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, considering that the Bengal woman, injured in a KSRTC bus accident in 2013, was a qualified lecturer and also a homemaker with permanent disability caused by the crash.On Oct 19, 2013, Pampapal was travelling in a KSRTC bus from Bengaluru to Madikeri. Around 4am, the bus hit a tree in Periyapatna taluk. Pampapal and her relatives sustained serious injuries.Pampapal subsequently sought compensation of Rs 50 lakh. In 2018, Motor Accident Claims Tribunal awarded her Rs 4.55 lakh along with 8% interest. Both Pampapal and the KSRTC challenged the award before high court.KSRTC argued medical expenditure was reimbursed by ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company and claimant was not entitled to any relief from KSRTC. It contended that there was no proof that she was working as a lecturer.Pampapal submitted that even if she was not working as lecturer at the time of the accident, taking her services as homemaker and the permanent disability into account, compensation is required to be awarded.She submitted that she holds Master’s in Biotechnology and worked as a guest lecturer from August 2012 to March 2013, receiving a Rs 35,000 monthly salary, the court noted.On the homemaker aspect, the judge noted 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 such woman holds higher qualification.“Even a working woman or a professional can be considered a homemaker. To consider a woman a ‘homemaker’, it is not necessary to project or establish that she is illiterate or stays at home 24×7 or attends only to household work and nothing more,” the court said, declaring a compensation of Rs 1.97 lakh, over and above the tribunal’s award, considering the fact that the claimant was just 25 years old at the time of accident.
