PREMLATA NILAMCHAND SHARMA Vs. HIRABHAI RANCHHODBHAI PATEL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal arises out of the order of the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal at Surat whereby the claim petition of the appellants filed before it bearing No. 103 of 1977 was dismissed.

(2.) The relevant facts giving rise to the aforesaid petition may be stated as under :- The appellants are the widow minor sons minor daughter and parents of the deceased Nilamchand Sadilal Sharma who met with a fatal motor accident at about 7-40 P. M. on 24/12/1976 The deceased had gone to the house of his in-laws at village Gangadhara on scooter bearing No. GTR 4557 belonging to one Chhabildas Khushaldas Modi. The deceased started from his in-laws house at about 7-00 or 7-15 P. M. having on the pillion of the scooter his brother-in-law Ramesh aged about 10 or 11 years. It is the case of the appellants that there was thick fog all along the highway. When deceased reached between village Kumbharia and Rang Kutir the scooter collided with a trailer attached to the tractor which was stationed on the left side of the road. It was the further case of the appellants that the trailer attached with the tractor was stationed without taking the requisite and the statutory precautions such as the reflectors and the red-light at the rear with the result that the deceased could not notice the tractor and consequently the accident occurred wherein the scooter driver lost his life. The tractor was facing Surat and did not have the lights either in the front or in the rear. The deceased sustained serious injuries as a result of which he died there and then and Ramesh who was sitting on the pillion also received injuries on his head and became unconscious. One Yogesh Nagjibhai Tailor who came on a Bullet Motor Cycle removed Ramesh in the rickshaw to the Civil Hospital Surat.

(3.) According to the appellants the deceased was 26 years of age at the meterial time. He was very intelligent hard-working and the only earning member of the family consisting of the deceased the widow three minor children and the perents. The appellants claimed compensation of Rs. 750.00 for the death of the deceased from the respondents the respondent No. 1 being the owner of the tractor and respondent No. 4 being the driver of it. Respondents Nos. 2 and 3 are the National Insurance Co. Ltd. and its branch office at Surat.