STATE OF GUJARAT Vs. CHANDRASINH JAYENDRASINH PARMAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) AMRELI City police had detained one Luxury Bus (Swaraj Mazda) bearing Registration No. GJ 14T 147, for the offence under Sections 66(1) & 192 of the Motor Vehicles Act. It happened on 18.7.1998. The said bus was owned by the present respondent (orig. plaintiff). The bus owner did not take any step for getting the bus released. So, the bus remained in policy custody at the Police Station. Then, the bus mysteriously caught fire. It happened on 11.2.2000. The bus owner came to know about the said incident from the newspaper report. The owner of the bus filed Special Civil Suit No. 99/2001 claiming compensation for the damage caused to the bus, against the State. The said Suit came to be partly decreed by learned 2nd Jt. Civil Judge (SD), Amreli vide judgment and order dated 31.3.2003. The present appeal is filed by the State challenging the judgment and decree passed by the learned trial Court.

(2.) PURSUANT to the aforesaid incident, Janvajog Entry No. 34/2000 was registered by the Head Constable in Amreli City Police Station on 11.2.2000. The police has said to have carried out the investigation pursuant to the said entry.

(3.) THE defendant State filed reply vide Exh.7. Besides denying the assertions made by the plaintiff, the State has asserted that on average, every year, about 300 vehicles are detained by Amreli City Police and these vehicles are released on production of receipt of payment of RTO tax by the vehicle owner. It is alleged in the present case that the plaintiff respondent had not paid RTO tax. It is the say of the appellant that someone from public may have thrown ignited bidi/cigarette on the bus and thereby the bus may have caught in fire. It is the say of the State that damage to the bus was to the tune of Rs. 10,000/ only. On the other hand, the plaintiff filed the suit claiming compensation for damage of Rs. 3,50,000/ .