In Brief
A widow, minor son, and mother of a 32-year-old driver who died in a fatal motorcycle accident claimed Rs. 64,15,000 in compensation. The Tribunal awarded Rs. 32,39,000, but the High Court reduced it to Rs. 19,70,000 by lowering the deceased's estimated monthly income from Rs. 17,500 to Rs. 10,000. The Supreme Court partially allowed the appeal, taking judicial notice of Kerala's statutory minimum wage for drivers (Rs. 15,600/month) and recalculating loss of dependency at Rs. 27,95,520 plus other heads, totalling Rs. 29,73,520. The court rejected adding unrelated rental income to the dependency calculation and left open the question of compensation under non-conventional heads.
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