Rossy, Biju and Mini vs V.V. Joy and The Oriental Insurance CO. Ltd., Branch Office, City Heights Building, South Junction, Chalakudy, Thrissur

Pius C. Kuriakose, J.—The appellants are the legal heirs of one Paul alias Pauly, a bachelor who lost his life in a road traffic accident caused by the negligence of the driver of a lorry which was insured with the second respondent Insurance Company. The grievance voiced by the appellants in this appeal is that the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal did not award them adequate compensation for the death of Sri. Pauly. They claimed a total amount of Rs. 5,65,500/- and the learned Tribunal under various heads awarded to them only Rs. 1,47,000/-. According to them, there is gross inadequacy in the compensation awarded by the learned Tribunal under various heads. We have heard the submissions of Sri.P.V.Chandramohan, learned counsel for the appellant and those of the learned standing counsel for the Insurance Company. The argument of Sri. Chandramohan was that there is gross inadequacy in the compensation awarded by the MACT. He would argue particularly that the monthly income adopted by the learned Tribunal of the deceased who was a marble and tile worker was too low. He also challenged the action of the learned Tribunal in deducting two-third from the monthly income of the deceased towards the personal expenses. Per contra the learned standing counsel for the Insurance Company would submit that reasonable compensation has been awarded by the Tribunal and there is no justification for increasing the compensation.

Having given our anxious consideration to the rival submissions addressed at the Bar we are of the view that there is inadequacy in the compensation awarded by the Tribunal. There is some evidence on record to hold that the deceased Pauly was a marble and tile worker. According to us, his monthly income could have been taken notionally to be Rs. 3000/-. As he was a bachelor the proper reduction to be made was one half. We redetermine the dependency compensation and find that the appellants are eligible for the award of a further amount of Rs. 1,17,000/- towards dependency. We award that amount to the appellants. We find inadequacy in the compensation awarded by the Tribunal towards pain and suffering. We therefore award to the appellants Rs. 5000/- more towards pain and suffering. The learned Tribunal has not awarded any compensation to the appellants towards loss of love and affection. Instead, a sum of Rs. 10,000/- is awarded towards the mental agony suffered on account of the death of Sri. Pauly. We set aside the award of Rs. 10,000/- towards mental agony and in substitution of that award we award a total amount of Rs. 30,000/- to the appellants towards loss of love and affection. According to us the award by the Tribunal under other heads is reasonable and there is no necessity to change the said award. The result is that over and above what has been awarded by the Tribunal the appellants are awarded a total amount of Rs. 1,52,000/- This additional amount will also carry interest at the same rate as is awarded by the Tribunal.

The appeal is allowed and the impugned awarded is modified as above.