CHANDRAN AND ORS. Vs. BASHEER AND ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The claimants are the father, mother and sisters of a deceased in a road traffic accident. Admittedly the application was filed under Sec. 163A of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 [for brevity "the Act"]. However, the Tribunal awarded the compensation under Sec. 166 of the Act, which is not proper especially since at the time when the award was passed the compensation under Sec. 163A would be more than that awarded under Sec. 166,

(2.) This Court need not go into the aspect of negligence or the injuries caused, since the victim of the accident succumbed to the injuries. This Court need look only at the quantum of compensation that would have been awarded under Sec. 163A under the Second Schedule to the Act. The total compensation awarded by the Tribunal was Rs.2,43,000.00 with interest at the rate of 7% per annum.

(3.) The deceased was stated to be a Conductor by profession. Since the application was filed under Sec. 163A, the annual income has to be confined to Rs.40,000.00. Hence, as per Second Schedule, the appellants are entitled to a compensation of Rs.7,20,000.00 minus 1/3 rd for personal expenses; thus the balance would be Rs.4,80,000.00 [Rupees four lakhs and eighty thousand]. To this, for funeral expenses Rs.2,000.00 [Rupees two thousand] has to be added and Rs.2,500.00 [Rupees two thousand and five hundred] for loss of estate. Hence, a total amount of Rs.4,84,500.00 with interest at the rate of 7% and costs, if any, as awarded by the Tribunal, has to be awarded to the appellants. The amounts awarded as above, after deducting what has already been paid, shall be paid within two months from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this judgment.