RAKESH KUMAR VIRMANI Vs. RAVI KUMAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Both the appeals are connected and they arise out of claims for compensation for injuries suffered in motor accident. The claimants were passengers in a car which struck against a stationary truck. The Court found that the accident had taken place by failure of the brakes of the car and claimant should be awarded compensation on the basis of no fault liability for the disability suffered under Section 140 of the Motor Vehicles Act.

(2.) In a case where the passengers of the car themselves were not responsible for the accident and they could not be stated to have contributed to negligence. It must be taken as a case of composite negligence between two drivers of the vehicle that had been involved in the accident. The Court has already apportioned the liability as 50-50% for the assessment made on the basis of no fault liability. The apportionment as ordered is retained and the cases are considered only as regards the adequacy of compensation that could be determined.

(3.) The Tribunal was in error in fixing only liability on the basis of no fault. On the other hand, the Court must have seen that the accident was the result of the negligence on the part of the driver of the car whose brakes have failed and the driver of the truck who had made the vehicle stationary in the portion of the road and caused some form of danger for persons using the road. The assessment of compensation ought to have been, therefore, just compensation under Section 166 and 168 of Motor Vehicles Act.