K S R T C Vs. BHARGAVI AMMA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The second respondent in O.P.(M.V.) 584/80 of M.A.C.T. Trivandrum, is the appellant.

(2.) The predecessor-in-interest of respondents 1 and 2, a doctor by profession, while proceeding to Amboori along the Perumkadavila-Ottasekharamangalam public road on his motor cycle on 22-10-1979 was knocked down by the bus owned by the appellant and sustained multiple injuries. He was hospitalised for sometime. As a result of the accident he was completely disabled from practicing his profession. Alleging that the accident was occasioned due to the negligence of the bus driver, he filed the petition for recovery of a sum of Rs. 2 lakhs as compensation from the appellant and its driver. The appellant filed a written statement wherein he, inter alia contended that the accident was due to the negligence of the claimant himself, that no negligence can be attributed to the bus driver and that the claim in any event, is excessive.

(3.) The Tribunal after considering the various aspects of the competing contentions, has found that the case of negligence against both drivers stands established and accordingly distributed the loss between them in the proportion made mention of in the judgment. The said finding reads: