HARYANA MILK FOODS Vs. SANTOKH SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE claimant Santokh Singh sustained injuries when a car came and hit into him while he was crossing the road. This happened on December 14, 1974 near Baldev Nagar, Ambala-Kalka road. The Tribunal holding that this was a case of negligence on the part of the car driver, awarded a sum of Rs. 7500/- as compensation to Santokh Singh.

(2.) THE challenge in appeal was to the finding of negligence returned against the car driver.

(3.) THE claimant Santokh Singh when he appeared in the witness box as AW. 4 deposed that on reaching the road junction, he looked towards his right and saw that a bus was coming from the side of Kalka which was about a furlong away, he then looked to the other side and proceeded to cross the road. He had almost reached the kacha portion of the road on the opposite side, when suddenly the car came and struck against him. It was further his testimony that about 4/5 days after the occurrence, he had sent a report Exhibit A. 3 to the Police Station through AW. 1 Rattan Singh and later he had also sent a notice Exhibit A. 4 under registered cover to M/s Haryana Milk Food, who were the owners of the offending car. It was thereafter that the police came to the hospital and recorded his statement. In cross examination he admitted that Exhibit Rule 1 which he had filed in Court was the report recorded in the rozenamcha on the basis of his statement made to the police. In this statement, it was recorded that he had seen a bus coming from the side of Chandigarh which was at a distance of about a furlong and as he thought that the bus was at some distance and he would be able to go across the road that he attempted to cross it, but then suddenly the car came from the side of Chandigarh and struck against him. At that time he was concentrating on the oncoming bus. He also admitted that he had stated that he had not seen the car approaching towards him. When confronted with the further statement recorded in Exhibit Rule 1 that there was no negligence of Sohan Lal, the driver of the car and that he had proceeded to cross the road without looking towards either direction, he denied having made any such statement. It is pertinent to note here that there was no suggestion by the claimant that there was any obstruction to his vision with regard to the traffic on the road when he proceeded to go across the road. In other words, there is no explanation from him to account for the fact that if he could see the bus, what prevented him from seeing the car too, considering that both these vehicles were coming from the same direction. It may be noted here that in his examination-in-chief, he had mentioned that the bus that he had seen coming was from the side of Kalka. When the car driver Sohan Lal came into the witness box, he deposed that there was a bus coming from the opposite direction, that is, from the side of Ambala. No suggestion was put to him with regard to any bus coming from the side of Chandigarh.