NATIONAL INSURANCE COMPANY LTD. Vs. DHARMENDER AND ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant impugns the award of compensation on the following grounds:-

(2.) These issues have been dealt with by the learned Tribunal as under:-

(3.) Referring to the affidavit of the injured Dharmender and his crossexamination, wherein he admits that the place where the accident happened was littered with gravel, Ms. Raman, the learned counsel for the appellant, submits that it is, therefore, possible that the injured had fallen/skidded on the gravel as a result of his driving at a high speed and thus injured himself grievously. Alternatively, he should have stopped and/or slowed the vehicle down, which could have prevented the alleged accident by skidding. In either case, there would be contributory negligence by him and some of the awarded amount should be deducted. The said argument is untenable because gravel could be of any size, it does not necessarily mean that the person should stop his vehicle or that motorcycle cannot be driven on gravel. What was the size of the gravel, how far or how loosely it was littered? Was it so dangerous that the rider should have slowed down entirely? All these aspects are not in the realm of the present examination because it was for the Insurance Company to have brought evidence to show that the rider of the motorcycle was driving in a rash and negligent manner and thus contributed to the unfortunate debilitating accident. What is plausible is that because of the loose gravel, as a prudent driver, the injured may have slowed his vehicle down, which was then hit by the rashly driven offending insured vehicle. Corroboration of such a hit, as found in the technical examination of the left side front bumper of the offending vehicle, is there. If the offending vehicle had a scratch on the left side of its front bumper, then it means that the injured rider of the motorcycle was on the left side of the offending vehicle i.e. the lane in which slow moving vehicles are meant to ply. That itself would lead to the logical conclusion that the offending vehicle was being driven in a rash and negligent manner.