CHIEF ENGINEER CONSTRUCTIONS, SOUTHERN RAILWAY Vs. HANUMANTHAPPA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THESE 2 appeals are disposed of by the common order as they are directed against the common judgment rendered in M.V.C. Nos. 243 and 244 of 1986 on the file of the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, Banglore Rural, Bangalore.

(2.) FIRST appeal is directed against the judgment in M.V.C. No. 343/86 in which the one Hanumanthappa was the claimant. In the other case M.V.C. 244/86 petitioner was the dependent i.e. wife of deceased Jayaram. Hanumanthappa suffered injuries and Jayaram died in an accident which took place when a lorry owned by the appellant -Southern Railways, bearing registration No. MYA 4789, dashed against them near Basettiahalli Spinning Mills at Doddaballapura. The lorry which bore registration No. MYA 4789 was undisputedly owned by the appellant -Southern Railways. The injured Hanumanthappa was an agricultural labourer or a coolie while the deceased Jayaram was an agriculturist and it was claimed by the widow that her husband was earning Rs. 5,000/ - per month by milk vending and Rs. 30,000/ - per annum from agriculture. It was pleaded by both the claimants that the accident was due to rash and negligent driving of the lorry owned by the Southern Railways.

(3.) ON the evidence of P.W. 1, injured Hanumanthappa, the Court came to the conclusion that the rash and negligence was on account of the drive of the lorry owned by the appellant. Even the mahazar drawn at the spot shows that the lorry was standing on the tarred portion of the right side of the road. Therefore the conclusion that it was the lorry driver who was at fault is irresistible on account of the fact that the lorry was found on the wrong side of the road. Therefore issue No. 1 was correctly answered in the affirmative.