Refusal of depreciation contributions and participation in the repair costs of a motor vehicle for a non-working insured person

Facts

S., born in 1961, married and mother of a young child since 6 September 1992, has been disabled in walking since her adolescence (following meningitis with paresis of the right leg). Since 17 December 1982, she had been receiving depreciation and repair contributions for her motor vehicle from the IV. After losing her job at the Swiss Bank Society at the end of May 1993, the compensation fund of the canton of Zurich refused to continue paying these contributions, on the grounds that they can only be granted to insured persons who have a permanent and sufficient gainful activity to ensure their livelihood. The appellant contested this decision, which was ultimately annulled by the Social Insurance Court of the canton of Zurich, which referred the case back to the cantonal IV office to rule again on the entitlement to contributions for the motor vehicle. The IV office then appealed against this cantonal decision.

Considerations

According to case law, the performance of the usual tasks within the meaning of Art. 27 para. 2 RAI must be placed on an equal footing with the exercise of a gainful activity, as regards the provision of motor vehicles and invalid vehicles provided for in Nos. 10.01* to 10.04* of the Annex to the OMAI. This also applies to depreciation or repair cost contributions. However, from the point of view of the effectiveness of rehabilitation, the performance of the usual tasks must be of vital importance to the insured person.

In the present…