UNITED INDIA INSURANCE CO LTD Vs. JOGINDER SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS judgment will dispose of F. A. Os. Nos. 292 and 293 of 1979 and the cross-objections filed therein by the owners of the offending truck ; and 236 of 1979 as they arise out of an award of the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, Patiala (hereinafter called " the Tribunal "), dated November 30, 1978, as well as Civil Miscellaneous Applications Nos. 380-CII and 381-CII of 1980 filed in F. A. Os. Nos. 292 and 293 of 1979, respectively, for allowing the production of additional evidence.

(2.) ON June 5, 1976, Joginder Singh, claimant (appellant in F. A. 0. No. 236 of 1979), was going from Patiala to Delhi by car No. PUP-9133 which was driven by Jaswant Singh (deceased ). When the said car reached village Haripur Ganduan on the G. T. Road, truck No. PUQ-4663, driven by Jarnail Singh, respondent, came from the Delhi side at a high speed. In a bid to overtake a military truck, it struck against the car. As a consequence, the car was smashed. Jaswant Singh (deceased), who was at that time driving the car, and Joginder Singh, claimant, sustained injuries. The said Jaswant Singh succumbed to his injuries in the hospital. Two claim petitions were filed before the Tribunal. Joginder Singh, injured, claimed a sum of Rs. 2,00,000 as compensation for the injuries sustained by him in the accident whereas the heirs of Jaswant Singh (deceased), i. e. , his father, Sunder Singh, and his mother, Basant Kaur, claimed a sum of Rs. 1,70,000 by way of compensation, asserting that the deceased was a young man of about 30 years of age and was a licensed driver earning a net income of Rs. 4,800 per annum at the time of the accident. In the written statement filed on behalf of Jarnail Singh, the driver of the offending truck, the allegations made in the claim petitions were controverted and it was averred that the driver of the car was driving the car at a very high speed and it was due to his negligence and rash driving that the car struck against the said truck. The insurance company equally set up similar averments in the written statement filed on its behalf. On the pleadings of the parties, the Tribunal framed the following issues :

(3.) TO what amount of compensation are the claimants entitled and against whom ?