DHARMALINGA MUDALIAR Vs. N MOHAMED EBRAHIM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS appeal and the revision petitions arise out of the claims made regarding a motor accident. The accident took place on 21-12-1967, the motor car bearing registration No. MSY 6929, belonging to Mohamed Ebrahim, the plaintiff in O. S. No. 73 of j1969, was being run as a taxi. The bus MDO 5783 belonging to the first defendant in that suit was the other motor vehicle involved in the accident. It was a head on collision between the two vehicles in which the motor car (MSY 6929) came to be badly damaged. The occupants of the care had been injured. The claim in the suit, out of which A. S. No. 348 of 1972 arises, is made by the owner of the car (taxi) regarding the damage to the vehicle on the ground that the accident was due to negligence on the part of the driver of the bus. The four revision petitions arise out of four different claim petitions filed by the injured in the said accident.

(2.) THE owner of the bus and the insurer thereof who were made parties to the suit as well as claim petitions contested the claims. The court below held that the accident was due to the negligence on the part of the driver of the bus and that therefore, the owner of the car as well as injured are entitled to compensation. It fixed the compensation payable to the owner of the car (plaintiff in O. S. 73 of 1969) towards the damage to the vehicle at Rs. 9000 and further added a sum of Rs. 2000 as the amount that the owner of the car lost as a result of the accident, inasmuch as the car which was running as a taxi was not able to be put on the road for a long period. Regarding the four injured, the court below fixed certain amounts as compensation.

(3.) IT held that the owner of the bus alone liable to pay the damages to the owner of the car as well as the compensation payable to the injured, exonerating the insured.