STATE INSURANCE OFFICER Vs. THANKAMMA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By the decree under appeal the plaintiffs in a suit for compensation have been awarded a sum of Rs 8640/- with interest thereon against defendants I and 2 in the suit who are respectively the driver and owner of a motor vehicle and the State Insurance Department which is the 5th defendant in the suit has been called upon to satisfy the decree since the vehicle involved in the accident which has given rise to the claim had been insured with the 5th defendant against third party risks. The appeal is by the 5th defendant, the State Insurance Officer, Trivandrum. There is a memorandum of cross objection by the plaintiffs seeking enhancement of the quantum of compensation. Though in the plaint the claim was for an amount of Rs 20000/- and only Rs. 8640/- had been awarded by the court below the cross objection limits the further claim to Rs. 7000/-.

(2.) One M G. John, a Police Constable, met with his death when a motor vehicle KLK. 5742 driven by the first defendant knocked him down and ran over him. This was on 5th April 1968 at about 9 P. M. The scene of accident was near the Y.M.C A. junction in the Kottayam town. According to the plaintiffs who are the widow and the three children of the deceased the accident was caused by the rash and negligent manner in which the vehicle was being driven at the time of accident by the first defendant. The plaintiffs claim to be dependants of deceased John. Besides them the other legal representatives of the deceased are said to be his parents who have been impleaded as defendants 3 and 4 in the suit. The plaintiffs plead that on the death of the breadwinner of the family plaintiffs are left without any means of livelihood. The 5th defendant was not originally a party to the suit. He was impleaded on motion being made for the purpose by the second defendant.

(3.) At the time or his death John was 33 years of age. He was an Armed Reserve Police Constable posted at the Armed Reserve Camp at Kottayam. His salary with allowances is said to have amounted to Rs. 200/- per mensem on the date of his death. In the normal course he would have been in service till the age of 55 and according to the incremental scale which he was drawing and the promotions which he would normally get he was one who was eligible for salary of Rs. 500/- in due course. Besides this he would receive his pension on his retirement. He was said to be in sound state of health on the date of the accident