SHRIMANTI Vs. KRISHNA DEVA MADIWAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Miscellaneous First Appeal is filed under Section 173(1) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, against the Judgment and award dated 29-2- 2000, passed in MVC No. 1694/1991 on the file of the Civil Judge, Sr. Dn., and Addl. MACT, Chikodi, dismissing the claim petition for compensation.

(2.) This appeal coming on for hearing, the same having been heard and reserved for pronouncement of Opinion, the Court delivered the following :-

(3.) The deceased was on 16-11-1991 riding a motorbike on what is known as Chikodi-Ichalakaranji Road. A bus owned by the respondent-Corporation bearing registration No. CAF-3548 was it appears going ahead of the motor cyclist. Somewhere along the way the bus driver appears to have stopped the bus according to the claimants so suddenly that the deceased who was following on the motorbike was taken unaware. Unable to control the bike he crashed into the bus from behind, fell down and succumbed to injuries on the spot. A claim petition was in due course filed by the claimants for payment of compensation against the Corporation and its driver inter alia alleging that the accident in question had taken place due entirely to the rash and negligent driving of the bus by its driver. The claim was opposed by the Corporation primarily on the ground that the accident in question had taken place not because of the rashness or negligence of the driver of the bus, but because of the rash and negligent act of the deceased himself. It was stated that since the claimants had themselves admitted that the accident in question had taken place on account of the failure of the deceased to control the speed of his motor cycle he was riding, there was no room for awarding compensation against the Corporation. The allegation that the bus was stopped suddenly without any signal was also denied. It was stated that the vehicle in question had been stopped by the driver near Sadalga Cross and that since the brake lights were in working condition on the date of the accident, the same was a sufficient signal to any vehicle coming from behind, that the bus going ahead was about to stop.