The court established that compensation calculations must consider the deceased's role and proper deductions for personal expenses, following established legal principles.

JUDGMENT :

1. This order shall dispose of three appeals preferred by the Insurance Company and three cross objections filed by the claimant.

2. Three claim petitions arising from one single accident were tried together, and the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, North Paravur, passed a common award. The Insurance Company has preferred the above appeals challenging the quantum, whereas the claimant filed cross objections seeking enhancement of the compensation awarded.

3. The brief facts for the disposal of the appeals and the cross objections are as follows:

On 6.11.2018 at about 11 a.m. the wife of the claimant, Smt. Shyji Martin, was riding a scooter bearing registration No. KL-42/K-1581 along the Vypin-Munambam road from North to South along with her two minor children, aged 8 and 10 years, as pillion riders in the said scooter. When they reached Schoolmuttam, a goods vehicle bearing registration No. KL-46/M-1291 driven in a rash and negligent manner came from the opposite direction and hit on the scooter. Due to the collision, Smt.Shyji Martin and her daughter died on the same day. Her son died on the next day. The claimant contended that Smt. Shyji Martin was working as an Accountant and was earning Rs.20,000/- per month. The appellant-Insurance Company appeared and filed a written statement denying the allegations in the claim petitions. The allegation that the driver of the offending vehicle, KL-46/M-1291, was negligent, which resulted in the accident, was denied. On behalf of the claimant, Exts.A1 to A13 were marked. There were no oral or documentary evidence produced on the side of the parties.

4. Two claim petitions, namely OP (MV) Nos.201/2019 and 202/2019 were preferred, claiming compensation due to the death of the minors. OP (MV) No. 203/2019 was preferred seeking compensation for the death of Smt. Shyji Martin.

MACA No. 3310/2020 & Cross Objection No. 79/2021

MACA No. 342/2021 & Cross Objection No. 77/2021

5. These appeals and cross objections are preferred against the findings rendered by the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, North Paravur in OP (MV) Nos. 201/2019 and 202/2019 dated 10.2.2020. These claims were preferred on account of the death of two minor children and hence would be dealt with at the first instance by this Court. The Tribunal after noticing the fact that the accident occurred on 6.11.2018, followed the Second Schedule and fixed the notional income for the financial year 2018-19 at Rs.1,02,000/- and deducted 1/3rd towards the personal expenses and applied the multiplier ‘15’ and granted the compensation. In respect of the claim under OP (MV) No. 201/2019, the Tribunal awarded compensation under the following heads:

The compensation awarded by the Tribunal with respect to the claim under OP (MV) No. 202/2019 is as follows: