MANNI DEVI Vs. RAJ PAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) At the asking of the Court, Mr. Kunal Garg takes notice on behalf of the State Roadways. The appeal is by the claimants seeking for enhancement of the award for compensation, in a case where the Tribunal found that the deceased had himself contributed to the accident when the vehicle which he was driving collided with the Haryana Roadways bus. The Tribunal, after finding that the deceased was himself responsible for the accident, however, determined a compensation of Rs. 25,000/- under no fault basis and directed Rs. 25,000/- to be paid jointly and severally by Respondents 1, 2 and 3.

(2.) The Appellants have assailed the award on the ground that the Tribunal had merely taken the evidence of the driver of the bus wholly to the exclusion of the evidence tendered on the side of the claimants through PW2, who was a passenger in the same vehicle and who was one of the claimants in his capacity as a son of the deceased. PW2 had stated in his evidence that the vehicle was driven by his father, who was with him on the front side and the car was going at a moderate speed of 40/45 per kilometer per hour on the left hand side of the road while the Haryana Roadways bus was coming at a high speed on the middle of the road on the opposite direction. It was also elicited through him that the road, at the spot of the accident, was wide enough to let two buses pass side by side. He gave evidence to the effect that the bus had come towards the other side of the center of the road and hit the car and took a turn towards the left to come to the left hand side and dragged the car to a distance of about 15 to 20 feet. After the accident, the bus and the car had come to a stand-still so that half the body of the respective vehicles were on kacha berm of the left side of the road for the bus.

(3.) The Tribunal, while appreciating the evidence of the driver, stated that the accident must have taken place only by the negligent driving of the car driver viz., the deceased, since the car was seen to be on the wrong side of the road while the bus was seen to be on the left side of the road. The site plan produced had given the location of the vehicles in the manner spoken to by PW2 himself. The Tribunal noticed that there were no serious injuries for any other occupant and the only grievous injury that had been found noticed on the deceased in the post mortem certificate was an injury on the chest which could have been due to the steering hitting the body of the driver and held that if the bus had been driving rashly as spoken to, the driver would have got crushed completely and other passengers would have also suffered very serious injuries. According to the Tribunal, the fact that all other passengers survived with minor injuries itself established that the bus driver could not have driven at a very high speed.