The Karnataka High Court held that the track record of the deceased reflects that he was a meritorious student who was working continuously from the time he graduated.The Karnataka High Court on June 19 increased the compensation from Rs 22 lakh to Rs 70 lakh to be paid to an aged Bengaluru couple, who had lost their 30-year-old software engineer seven years ago in a road accident.A division bench of Justice Jayant Banerji and Justice Tara Vitasta Ganju has partly allowed an appeal filed by S Sridharan, 71, and S Bhuvaneswari, 68, who had challenged the order passed by the Motor Accidents Claim Tribunal in 2022 and sought enhancement of compensation awarded.The court noted that the deceased had a bright future and the parents were entirely dependent on his income, which showed a steady rise.Bhaskaran S, who was running his own company and earning Rs 1 lakh per month, met with an accident on April 9, 2019, while traveling from Goa to Bangalore in a bus. He had worked as a technical analyst in Oracle India Private Ltd and was contributing his entire income towards the welfare of his family.‘Compensation awarded is less’It was also argued that since no Income Tax Returns for the period before his death were placed on record, the Tribunal has wrongly taken his income as notional income and the compensation awarded is less.The tribunal had awarded a compensation of Rs 22,17,550 along with a 6 per cent interest per annum from the date of petition till its realisation.The bench, in its order, noted that evidence reflects that the deceased graduated in 2010 and subsequently started working for Dell from 2010 to 2012; CSS in Chennai from 2012 to 2015, where he got an award and was sent to the United States.‘Son drew a monthly salary of Rs 61,079’Story continues below this adThe parents told the court that he joined Oracle India and drew a salary of Rs 61,079 per month; he resigned on January 2, 2018, to run his own logistics business. He was also interested in settling in Canada.The court said that the bank statement of the deceased reflects that he had made a fixed deposit of Rs 7 lakh on January 3, 2019, three months before his death, under the joint account of his mother and himself. He was also paying an equated monthly installment on a housing loan in a sum of Rs.10,500, for a house purchased for his parents.The bench held in its order, “We are unable to agree with the finding of the learned Tribunal. The track record of the deceased reflects that he was a meritorious student who was working continuously from the time he graduated. He also got awards. The deceased had also filed his tax returns and the claimants produced the last three years of Income Tax Returns of the deceased. The I-T returns showed a steady rise in the income of the deceased.”The order said, “The claimants were saddled with a home loan as well as other expenses. Given these circumstances, this court deems it apposite to enhance the interest awarded from 6 per cent to 9 per cent and appellants/claimants are entitled to a total compensation of Rs 70,06,990.”