MEERA P.O. Vs. ANANDA P. NAIK

JUDGEMENT

(1.) As the appeals arise out of the common award in O.P (MV) Nos.1055, 1056, and 1057 of 2002 of the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, Thalassery (in short 'Tribunal'), they are being decided together. The parties are, wherever the context so requires and for the sake of convenience, referred to as per their status in O.P (MV) 1056/2002.

(2.) The compendious background facts are: Madhavan, his wife " ' Meera and their two daughters Latha and Smitha were residents of Gujarat. They decided to relocate to their native place at Mattannur in Kannur District. The four of them left from Gujarat to Mattannur in a Car driven by Madhavan. Little did they know it was their last journey together! On 8/7/2001, at about 6.45 p.m., while the car was manoeuvring a steep gradient at Nagar Cross, Kumta Taluk, Karnataka State, a van which was moving downhill, from Ankola to Kumta, driven by the first respondent in a negligent manner and at excessive speed, collided with the car. Madhavan and Latha suffered fatal injuries and breathed their last before they reached the Kumta Taluk Hospital. The car got extensively damaged. Fortuitously, Meera and Smitha survived unscathed.

(3.) In the above state of affairs, Meera, Smitha and the mother of Madhavan " ' Janaki (hereinafter referred to as 'petitioners') filed O.P (MV) Nos.1056 and 1055 of 2002 before the Tribunal, against the driver, owner, insurer of the van and the insurer of the car (hereinafter referred to as 'respondents'), seeking compensation for the death of Madhavan and for the damages caused to the car. Meera also filed O.P (MV) No.1057 of 2002 against the respondents, seeking compensation for the death of her daughter Latha.