ASHISH SINGLA Vs. MAJOR SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This order shall dispose of aforementioned two appeals i.e. FAO No.3381 of 2002 and FAO No.3382 of 2002, since both these appeals are arising from the same award dtd. 13/2/2001 passed by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Panchkula (for short, the Tribunal) and are relating to the same accident. The parties in the present appeals are referred to as they were described in the claim petitions.

(2.) The brief facts, as mentioned in the award passed by the Tribunal are; that on 14/2/1998, Kamal Kishore Singla, his wife, Jaimala, his parents, namely, Puran Chand and Reshma Devi along with two children were travelling in Maruti car bearing registration No.PCE- 56 and were going from Panchkula to Jalandhar. At about 4.00 p.m., when their car reached in the area of village Singh on Chandigarh-Ropar Highway, it was hit by a truck bearing registration No.CH01-M-9083 which was coming from the opposite side and which was being driven by respondent No.3 in rash and negligent manner. The truck in question struck against the car of Kamal Kishore Singla by going on the wrong side. In the said accident, Kamal Kishore Singla and his wife Jaimala died and Reshma Devi, Puran Chand, Ashish Singla and Sahil Singla received injuries. On account of the said accident, an FIR was also got registered. With these assertions, the claim petitions were filed. In case of deceased Jaimala, the claim petition was filed claiming that she was working as an officer in the Bank. She was earning more than Rs.15,000.00 per month as salary. She was of the age of 42 years. Hence, an amount of Rs.25.00 Lakh was claimed as compensation. Similarly, in another claim petition, filed on account of death of Kamal Kishore Singla, it was alleged that he was also earning about Rs.15,000.00 per month. He was of the age of 40 years. In his case as well, an amount of Rs.25.00 Lakh was claimed as compensation.

(3.) The respondents contested the claim petitions and pleaded that the deceased Kamal Kishore Singla was driving the car in violation of the traffic rules and came on the wrong side without blowing any horn.