SIKHA DEB Vs. BINODE DEBNATH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) On 30/3/2012, one Subrata Dey was coming towards Agartala from Kamalpur in his Maruti Zen car bearing registration No. TR-01-Q-0479. On the Kamalpur-Ambassa road, the said car met with an accident, as a result of which, he sustained injuries and expired. The alleged cause of accident being fault of the driver of vehicle bearing registration No. TR-04-2158 (Commander Jeep) who negligently stopped the vehicle without signaling and as a result thereof, the Maruti Zen car, driven behind, rammed into the Commander Jeep. The incident was witnessed by passersby namely, Atul Das and Nitya Gopal Rudrapaul who reported the incident to the police.

(2.) The legal heirs of deceased filed a petition under Sec. 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act claiming compensation of Rs.14,09,000.00. In the claim petition, the fault alleged was purely that of driver of the Commander Jeep. However, owner of the said vehicle, in his response to the petition, while denying the fault of his driver, attributed fault and negligence of the deceased who was on the wheels of Maruti Car. The insurer, on this aspect, remained silent and vaguely denied the averments made in the claim petition.

(3.) It appears that at the time of framing of issues, parties did not seriously dispute the factum of negligence of the deceased for the parties agreed to framing of the following two issues: