, J.

1. Fourteen appeals F. A. O. Nos. 67, 68, 69, 76, 87, 89, 99, 91, 101, 102, 103, 104 and 105 of 1971 have been filed against an award dated 4-1-1971 of the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Rohtak. By the said award, the learned Tribunal had disposed of five claim applications arising out of the same motor accident under Section 110-A of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1939 . The reasons which had led the Tribunal to consolidate proceedings in these five cases and to dispose them of by one judgment would enable me to hear and dispose of all these fourteen appeals together.

2. The undisputed facts are that on the morning of 17-6-1968. Haryana Government Roadways Bus No. HRA-1246 and Jeep No. PNC-1557 happened to be travelling in opposite directions on Kaithal Narwana road. At about 9 A. M. the bus started from the Bus stand at village Kalayat and had gone hardly a furlong or two when the two vehicles collided on or near a road culvert. The jeep could make hardly a dent in the bus which had a full complement of passengers, all of whom are said to have escaped any injury. The jeep and its eight occupants, however, came in for a good deal of damage. The jeep had been battered out of shape and all its occupants sustained extensive injuries. Two of them succumbed to their injuries at the spot while three others died while they were being removed to the hospital at village Kalayat situated about two furlongs from the scene of the accident. One of the persons who died was Amar Singh, the jeep driver. but there is no claim for compensation in respect of his death. The jeep-owners father Gore Lal R.W. and his partner in business Dugar Mal A.W. have also not claimed any compensation even though they had sustained extensive injuries in the accident.

3. The owner of the jeep. Shri Raj Kumar. who had been impleaded as respondent No. 4 in the Court below. was the luckily not in the vehicle at the time and the evidence is that he had lent it gratis out of friendship to Shri Chiranji Lal Bansal (deceased) who was a Superintendent in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. It is left to ones imagination as to how for the office that Shri Bansal held has affected the decision of the learned Tribunal. Shri Chiranji Lal Bansal. his wife smt. Bhagwanti and two out of his four sons namely Suresh Chander aged 13 years and Subhash Chander aged 17 years, were amongst the eight occupants who were out for a joy ride in the jeep that morning. Shri Prem Chand. another business partner of the jeep-owners father Shri Gore Lal was also amongst these eight occupants of the jeep. The accident had proved fatal for Shri Chiranji Lal Bansal his wife Smt. Bhagwanti and his son Suresh Chander. aged 13 years. The driver of the jeep had also died at the spot as stated earlier. Prem Chand had also died before he could be attended to in the nearby hospital. Subhash Chander son of Shri Chiranji Lal Bansal had sustained injuries and he figures as a claimant in four out of the five claim applications arising out of this motor accident. Three claims were filed by Subhash Chander. aged 17 years. along with his brothers Mangat Ram. aged 23 years. and Romesh. aged 19 years. separately in respect of the deaths of their father, mother and brother Suresh Chander, aged 13 years. The fourth claim application was by Subhash Chander alone in respect of his own injuries. A sum of rupees two lakhs was claimed in each application for compensation in respect of the deaths of Chiranji Lal Bansal and Bhagwanti while a sum of Rs. 50,000/- was claimed in respect of death of Master Suresh, a school student. Subhash had claimed a sum of Rs. 20,000/- in respect of the simple injuries sustained by him except for a fracture of the nasal bone which had kept him in the hospital for less than a week. The fifth claim was by Smt. Parsani Devi, mother of Prem Chand deceased and she had also claimed compensation in the sum of rupees two lakhs for the death of her bachelor son. aged about 25 years, Smt. Pa