PUSHPA Vs. PIARA SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Negligence is writ large in a head on collision between two vehicles coming from opposite directions on a straight road. An accident of this kind so obviously attracts the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur as such happenings do not normally occur except on account of negligence of one or both the drivers. The accident in the present case was precisely of the type described yet the Tribunal held against the claimants on the issue of negligence. This is where it so gravely erred. The claimants here being the widow and children of Satish Kumar Sawhney deceased, a passenger in a taxi, which was one of the vehicles involved in the accident.

(2.) The accident here was between a Taxi DLT 5151 on its way to Delhi and the Haryana Roadways Bus HYA 2711 coming from the opposite direction. There was a head-on collision between these two vehicles almost in front of police station, Butana, on the Grand Trunk Road between Ambala and Karnal. This happened at about 2.00 p.m. on March 1, 1978. The Taxi driver was killed at the spot while Satish Kumar Sawhney died in hospital the next day.

(3.) The Tribunal dismissed the claim for compensation filed by the complainants holding, "it does not stand conclusively established on the record that the accident in question occurred on account of the rash and negligent driving of the Bus/Taxi or on account of the composite negligence or rashness of both the drivers". The Tribunal also observed, "it is also not clear on the record as to whether the accident in question could be averted by any circumspection or care on the part of either of the two drivers".