THANKAPPANEZHUTHASSAN Vs. SIVADASAN.P N

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE appellants are the legal heirs, being the mother and sisters of one Prakash Kumar who lost his life in a road traffic accident caused by the negligence of the driver of a lorry which was duly insured with the third respondent Insurance Company. The appellants submit that the compensation awarded to them by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal is grossly inadequate.

(2.) WE have heard the submissions of the learned counsel for the appellants and those of the learned standing counsel for the Insurance Company. The submission of the learned counsel for the appellants was that the Tribunal awarded only Rs.1,72,000/- as compensation under various heads as against the appellants' total claim of Rs.8,43,500/-. The compensation is grossly inadequate, according to the learned counsel for the appellants. Per contra, it was submitted by the learned standing counsel for the Insurance Company that the learned Tribunal erred in deducting only one third of the income of the deceased towards his personal expenses. As the deceased was a bachelor, the proper deduction to be made was 50% .

(3.) WE find inadequacy in the compensation awarded by the learned Tribunal to the appellants towards pain and suffering. Hence, we award to the appellants Rs.5000/- more under that head.