(1.) The aforesaid two First Appeals have been filed by the appellant - New India Assurance Company Limited - original respondent No.2 in the Claim Petitions, under Sec. 173 read with Sec. 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 challenging the judgment and award dtd. 13/7/2007 passed by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (Auxiliary), Gandhinagar (hereinafter referred to as 'the Tribunal') in Motor Accident Claim Petition Nos.332 and 333 of 2006. By the said award, the Tribunal has awarded an amount of Rs.12,54,960.00 to the legal heirs of deceased Mukesh V. Raval (original claimants of Claim Petition No.332 of 2006 - respondent Nos.2 to 4 of First Appeal No.4082 of 2008) and Rs.10,51,200.00 to the legal heirs of deceased Shahid Chhatrasinh Parmar (original claimants of Claim Petition No.333 of 2006 - respondent Nos.2 to 5 of First Appeal No.4083 of 2008), with proportionate cost and interest @ 7.5 % p.a. from the date of petition till realization.
(2.) The short facts arise from the record are as under :-
(3.) During the pendency of the appeals, legal heirs of the deceased - original claimants filed cross objections in both the appeals seeking enhancement of the compensation awarded and the same were ordered to be heard along with the first appeals.