NEW INDIA ASSURANCE CO.LTD., Vs. K.RATHAMANI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal is filed by the insurance company as against the award of the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, Fast Track Court No.4, Coimbatore at Tiruppur in M.C.O.P. No.81 of 2004.

(2.) The respondents 1 to 3 are the claimants before the Tribunal, who are the legal heirs of late Kittusamy, who died in a road traffic accident. The fourth respondent is the driver of the offending vehicle and the fifth respondent its owner.

(3.) The case of the claimants is that the late Kittusamy was an Exporter and doing export of Woven Goods and he was running a concern under the name and style of Siva Mills employing several persons and was also carrying on export business and earning huge profits, which was not less than Rs. 2 lakhs (Net profit per month). The deceased was an income tax assessee and profit per annum was not less than Rs. 30 lakhs. The claimants produced the tax returns to show that the deceased was paying income tax. Further it was stated that the claimants are the dependents of late Kittusamy and he was the only earning member of the family. With regard to the accident, the claimants' case is that Kittusamy was travelling in the bus bearing Registration No.TN 39-S-2788 and boarded the bus from Avinashi to go over to Tirupur. According to the claimants, the bus was driven in a rash and negligent manner and when the bus was nearing Harvey Road, at Tirupur, at about 5.45 p.m, it was driven in such a manner, the said Kittusamy, who was standing inside the bus and on account of applying sudden break, he was thrown out of the running bus and sustained several injuries all over his body and was taken to the Government Hospital, Tirupur, where he was pronounced to dead. The claimants claimed total compensation of Rs. 2,52,00,000.00 restricted to Rs. 2 crores. [loss of earning at Rs. 2,50,00,000.00; transport to hospital Rs. 5,000.00; damages to cloth and articles Rs. 50,000.00; funeral expenses Rs. 50,000.00, loss of consortium Rs. 1 lakh and love and affections Rs. 1 lakh.]