MARY Vs. RAJENDRAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE endlessly enduring victims of accident have filed this appeal against the unwarranted dismissal of their claim petition. THE appellants/claimants are the wife and children (aged 27 years, 7 years, 5 years and 4 years respectively, at the time of accident in 1995 ) of the deceased- Shanmugaiah. THE deceased was aged 29 years, fruit vendor, earning a sum of Rs.100/- per day. On 10.06.1995, at about 09.15 am., when the deceased was walking on the Ukkadam to Pour Bye-Pass Road, the driver who was driving the vehicle bearing registration No.TN-37-N-0096, drove it in a rash and negligent manner and hit against Shanmugaiah and another person, which rendered both dead. THE legal representatives of the deceased Shanmugaiah, filed a claim petition, claiming a sum of Rs.5,00,000/- as compensation.

(2.) THE claim was resisted by the Transport Corporation on the ground that there was no rash and negligent driving on the part of the driver and that the amount of compensation claimed is excessive. Inter alia, the age, occupation, income and loss of dependency of the deceased were all disputed.

(3.) PERUSAL of the order passed by the Tribunal reveals that the Legal Heir Certificate of the deceased-Shanmugaiah has been filed as Ex.P.5, in which the name of the parents of deceased Father-Rasudevar and Mother-Subbammal, find a place in Ex.P.5. In the evidence, P.W.1, the wife of the deceased-Shanmugaiah, has stated that the parents of the deceased are dead. However, the petitioners/claimants failed to file the death certificate of the parents of the deceased. The Tribunal has given a finding that the oral evidence of the deceased cannot be believed in the absence of documentary evidence i.e., death certificate and on that ground, citing the reason of non-joinder/non-impleadment of the parents of the deceased, the claim petition has been dismissed.