The main legal point established in the judgment is the court's authority to adjust compensation awards based on the specific circumstances of each claimant in motor vehicle accident cases.

JUDGMENT :

A. Subbulakshmy, J.—These appeals arise as against the order passed by the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, Madras, in M.C.O.P. Nos. 3737 and 3741 to 3745 of 1995. Since all these claims arise out of the same accident, the claim petitions were disposed of by common order dated 14.8.2000. As these C.M.As. arise out of the common order passed in the above said M.C.O.Ps. these appeals are disposed of by this common judgment.

2. Claimants in M.C.O.P. No. 3737 of 1995 are the parents of the deceased. They filed the claim petition claiming compensation of Rs. 3,00,000 for the death of their son in the motor vehicle accident that took place on 18.8.1995 at about 1.00 a.m. When the deceased Bhaskar Babu, who was working as cleaner in the lorry owned by the respondent No. 1, was travelling in the lorry bearing registration No. TMO 6226 from Manali to Tambaram driven by its driver in a rash and negligent manner dashed against the autorickshaw bearing registration No. TN 01-B-9469 and the deceased Bhaskar Babu was thrown out from the lorry and sustained severe injuries and he died later. It is the case of the claimants that the accident had occurred solely due to rash and negligent driving of the lorry driver and so, the respondent No. 1 owner of the lorry and respondent No. 2 insurer are liable to pay compensation to the claimants. The respondents resisted the claim of the petitioners. The Tribunal, on analysis of evidence, found that the accident had occurred due to rash and negligent driving of the driver of the lorry belonging to the respondent No. 1.

3. Negligence aspect is not disputed and hence, it is unnecessary to discuss with regard to negligence aspect.

4. The Tribunal passed an award for a sum of Rs. 2,30,380.

5. Learned counsel appearing for the appellant insurance company submitted that the amount awarded as compensation is on higher side and it has to be reduced.

6. The Tribunal awarded a sum of Rs. 2,27,880 towards pecuniary loss. The deceased Bhaskar Babu was aged 22 years at the time of the accident and he was working as cleaner in the lorry. The evidence of PW 1 is that he was working as cleaner and getting Rs. 900 per month as salary and Rs. 40 per day as batta. The petitioner has not filed any document to substantiate that. Admittedly the deceased was working as a cleaner. The Tribunal, on the materials available, found that the deceased as cleaner would have earned Rs. 900 per month and even if batta is fixed at Rs. 40 per day, he would have easily earned Rs. 1,000 for 25 days and thus the total income would be Rs. 1,900 per month and after deducting 1/3rd towards personal expenses, the Tribunal found that the deceased would have contributed towards his family a sum of Rs. 1,266 and he would have contributed Rs. 15,192 per annum. The parents of the deceased are the claimants. The mother is aged 43 years. The Tribunal adopted multiplier of 15 and arrived at the total pecuniary loss at Rs. 2,27,880. The amount of pecuniary loss arrived at by the Tribunal is reasonable and we are not disturbing the amount arrived by the Tribunal in this aspect.

7. The Tribunal had awarded Rs. 2,500 towards funeral expenses. We confirm this amount also. The Tribunal has not awarded any amount towards loss of love and affection. We award Rs. 10,000 in this aspect. Accordingly, we hold that claimants are entitled to a sum of Rs. 2,40,380. The award passed by the Tribunal is modified to this extent.

8. The claimants filed Cross-objection No. 81 of 2001 contending that the award of Rs. 2,30,000 is highly inadequate and the claimants are entitled to enhanced compensation.

9. The deceased was working as cleaner in the lorry. Tribunal has not awarded any amount towards loss of love and affection and in other aspects, the Tribunal passed award for just and fair amount. We allow the cross-objection in part by awarding a sum of Rs. 10,000 as compensation for loss of love and affection.

10. In the same accident, persons who were travelling in the