KHATAMBI, W/O LATE J.M. DODWAD Vs. THE MANAGING DIRECTOR, KSRTC, CENTRAL OFFICE, K.H. ROAD, BANGALORE-27 AND THE CHAIRMAN, INTERNAL SECURITY FUND, KSRTC, CENTRAL OFFICES, K.H. ROAD, BANGALORE-27

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE appellant before us is the widow of the late I.M. Dodwad who at the time of his death was working as driver with the KSRTC. Sadly enough he was travelling in a KSRTC bus and it was very clear from the evidence of PW.1 that tie bus which had collided with a track was being driven in a grossly rash and negligent manner and because of the negligence of the bus driver the deceased lost his life. At that time though the claim petition mentioned that he was 26 years old. the postmortem report has given his age as 35 years. Despite the fact that the eye witness had been examined and the case was fixed for arguments the Tribunal dismissed the claim on the basis of the decision of this court reported in ILR 1995 Karnataka 1908 holding that it was barred by limitation. We need to record here that this procedure was totally incorrect, improper and Illegal for the simple reason that the Supreme Court in the decision reported in AIR 1996 S.C. 2155 has clearly laid down that the object of removing the limitation was purely in order to ensure that merely because of some delay, the poor dependants of persons who had been injured or who had. more importantly, lost their lives in fatal accidents should not be totally deprived of the compensation. Having regard to this position, we are required to set aside the dismissal order and we see no ground why at this late stage the case should be remanded to the Tribunal because record indicates that there is adequate material on record for this court to do the quantification in keeping with the principles of law applicable. We have taken into account the age of the deceased, we have taken into account the salary that he was earning and after computing all the different heads, we hold that he would be entitled to an aggregate compensation of Rs. 3,40,000/ - along with interest computed at 8% per annum. We the respondents to deposit this amount with the Tribunal within an outer limit of 12 weeks from today. Having regard to the status of the applicant and the fact that she has lost her total source of livelihood and the fact that she has list the children during the interim period we issue the following directions: - The Tribunal shall invest a sum of Rs. 3 lakhs with the post office savings bank, close to the residence in. the name of the applicant along with any nominee of her choice for a period of 10 years renewable for a further period of 10 years. The amount shall be invested tax free in the post office monthly savings account and the interest that accrues shall be released the applicant for her sustenance from time to time. In view of the fact that the applicant may be required to make provision for her immediate needs we direct that the whole of the balance amount to be released to her. With these directions the appeal which succeeds to stand disposed off