UNION OF INDIA Vs. ABDULLA KHAN BIBAN KHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THESE appeals have been filed under Section 110-D of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1939 against the judgment and award passed by the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, Nanded, dated 19th February, 1986 by which Rs. 50,000/- have been awarded as compensation to the claimant-respondent, and they are thus disposed of by a common judgment.

(2.) THE facts of the case giving rise to the claim may be summarised as follows: On 1st January, 1983, at about 10 a.m. the claimant-respondent Abdulla Khan, who was a Probationary Police Sub-Inspector attached to Shivaji Nagar Police Station, was proceeding on his bicycle to the Police Station along the right side of the road. One Mohd. Shafi was also following him on his bicycle. When the respondent Abdulla Khan came near the I.T.I. bus-stop that is to say in front of the Patel Automobiles Shop, a military truck 3 Ton B A bearing No. 74-D 14807 of 52 Maharashtra Battalion N.C.C. Nanded driven by the appellant in First Appeal No. 79 of 1986 came from behind in a high speed. It was the case of the respondent that the appellant driver drove the truck rashly and negligently; in giving dash to the carrier of his bicycle as a result of which he fell down when the rear wheel of the truck passed over his buttock. He was immediately removed to the hospital in the very truck. He was required to be the indoor patient till April 25, 1983. He has received serious injuries such as fracture to pelvis, rupture to urethra for which he has undergone operation in the Civil Hospital at Aurangabad. He, therefore, filed the application against the truck driver by joining his master Union of India, who is the appellant if First Appeal No. 78 of 1986, claiming the compensation.

(3.) ON the aforesaid rival theories of the parties, evidence was led on issues framed at Exh. 42 and one of the important issues was whether the appellant driver drove the truck in rash and negligent manner giving dash to the respondent resulting in his fall and getting injured. The nature of the evidence adduced by the parties is oral testimonies of the witnesses to the accident and the medical evidence.