SHANMUGAM Vs. SAGADEVAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE above Civil Miscellaneous Appeal has been filed by the appellant/petitioner against the Award and Decree, dated 20. 11. 2000, made in M. C. O. P. No. 306 of 1998, on the file of the Principal District Court (Motor Accident Claims Tribunal), Erode, awarding a compensation of Rs. 10,000/- with 12% interest per annum, from the date of filing the petition to till the date of realisation.

(2.) AGGRIEVED by the said Order, the appellant/petitioner has filed the above appeal praying for enhanced compensation of Rs. 50,000/ -.

(3.) THE short facts of the case are as follows: on 14. 06. 1996, at about 7. 30 a. m. the petitioner was travelling as loading and unloading man, in the lorry bearing registration No. TNS 5329. The driver of the lorry was driving the said lorry at a moderate speed observing all the rules of traffic. While, the lorry was proceeding in the Perundurai to Coimbatore Main Road, namely NH 47, near D. C. E. College from east to west, a bus bearing registration No. TN39 D9595 was coming from the opposite direction. The driver of the bus, the first respondent herein, was driving the said bus in a rash and negligent manner and in an uncontrollable speed and without observing the rules of traffic, came to the wrong side of the road and hit against the lorry in which the petitioner is travelling. In the said accident, driver of the lorry died on the spot and the petitioner and others sustained grievous injuries all over their body. Therefore, the accident had occurred only due to the rash and negligent driving of the first respondent and so, the first respondent, the driver; the second respondent, the owner of the bus and the third respondent, the insurer of the bus; the fourth respondent, the owner of the lorry and the fifth respondent, the insurer of the lorry jointly and severally liable to pay the compensation to the petitioner.