The main legal point established in the judgment is the application of legal precedents and guidelines for determining notional income of the deceased and calculating future prospects and loss of income in motor accident compensation cases.

JUDGMENT

(Prayer: Civil Miscellaneous Appeal filed under Section 173 of Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, against the Judgment and decree dated 03.03.2016 passed in M.C.O.P.No.960 of 2015 on the file of the Special District Judge / Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, Trichirappalli and seeking enhancement of compensation of Rs.10,00,000/- (Rupees Ten Lakhs only).)

1. This Civil Miscellaneous Appeal has been directed against the Judgment and decree dated 03.03.2016 passed in M.C.O.P.No.960 of 2015 on the file of the Special District Judge / Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, Trichirappalli by the appellants / claimants challenging the quantum of the award.

2. For the sake of convenience, the parties are referred herein as per their rank before the Trial Court.

3. The brief facts in a nutshell are as follows:

(i) This is a fatal case. On 14.05.2015 at about 21.30 Hrs, the deceased one Ravichandran alias Alex was driving his Motor cycle bearing registration No.TN 81 A 1461 returning from Kangeyam in Tiruppur District to Trichy. One Thangamalaiyali / co-worker was also travelled along with him as pillion rider. While the deceased was riding his motorcycle, keeping his left side i.e., in the north side of Karur – Trichy Main road, coming from west to east, near Kudil in Thirupparaithurai in Karur - Trichy main road, the respondent's TNSTC bus bearing registration No. TN 74 N 1533 in high speed from the opposite direction i.e., from east to west suddenly came towards right side and dashed against the petitioner's motorcycle. As a result of the said collusion, both the deceased and the pillion rider were thrown away and sustained multiple and fatal injuries. The deceased sustained fatal injuries on his head, neck and both legs and was taken to the Government Hospital, Trichy. However, he died while getting treatment in Government Hospital, Trichy on the same day. The postmortem of the deceased was done on the next day. At the time of the accident, the deceased was 26 years old and was working as a welder in a company namely M.M.Truss Fabrication & Erectors, Trichy-1, earned Rs.20,000/- (Rupees Twenty Thousand only) per month.

(ii) Hence, the legal heirs of the deceased Ravichandran alias Alex / claimants have filed M.C.O.P.No.960 of 2015 on the file of the Special District Judge / Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, Trichirappalli seeking compensation for the loss of life of the deceased Ravichandran alias Alex. The 1st petitioner is the mother of the deceased. The 2nd petitioner is the brother of the deceased. The respondent had fied a counter refuting the allegations setforth in the claim petition.

(iii) After considering the oral and documentary evidence and the arguments submitted by the respective parties, the Tribunal framed two issues. The learned Tribunal proceeded to conclude that the accident had happened only because of the rash and negligence of the driver of the respondent's bus. Hence, the learned Tribunal has fixed the liability on the part of the respondent and also awarded a sum of Rs.6,93,000/- (Rupees Six Lakhs and Ninety Three Thousand only) as compensation with interest at 7.5% p.a. from the date of petition to till the date of realisation. The details of the compensation awarded by the Tribunal are as follows:

Aggrieved by that award, the claimants have filed the present appeal seeking enhancement.

4. The learned counsel for the appellants / claimants has submitted that the Tribunal has awarded a very low and meagre sum of compensation. At the time of occurrence in the year 14.05.2015, the deceased namely Ravichandran alias Alex was working as a welder and earned Rs.20