JUDGMENT :

As the appeals arise out of the common award in O.P (MV) Nos.1055, 1056, and 1057 of 2002 of the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, Thalassery (in short 'Tribunal'), they are being decided together. The parties are, wherever the context so requires and for the sake of convenience, referred to as per their status in O.P (MV) 1056/2002.

Factual Matrix

2. The compendious background facts are :

Madhavan, his wife ?Meera and their two daughters Latha and Smitha were residents of Gujarat. They decided to relocate to their native place at Mattannur in Kannur District. The four of them left from Gujarat to Mattannur in a Car driven by Madhavan. Little did they know it was their last journey together! On 8.7.2001, at about 6.45 p.m., while the car was manoeuvring a steep gradient at Nagar Cross, Kumta Taluk, Karnataka State, a van which was moving downhill, from Ankola to Kumta, driven by the first respondent in a negligent manner and at excessive speed, collided with the car. Madhavan and Latha suffered fatal injuries and breathed their last before they reached the Kumta Taluk H