STATE OF HARYANA Vs. RAM SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Present appeals have been filed by the State/ defendants No.1 to 3, against the judgment and decree dtd. 15/6/2001 passed by learned Additional District Judge, Kurukshetra whereby Civil Appeal No.349 of 1998 filed by plaintiff Ram Singh, and Civil Appeal No.78 of 2001 filed by plaintiff Sharda Rani against the dismissal of their suit by the ld. trial Court vide common judgment and decree dtd. 11/9/1997, have been allowed. Both the appeals are being disposed of by this common order as both appeals emanate from same incident; facts and issues involved in both the appeals are identical; as also these appeals are against common impugned judgment and decree dtd. 15/6/2001 whereby the appeals filed by the respondents/plaintiffs were allowed by the learned Additional District Judge.

(2.) The parties shall hereinafter be referred to as per their status before the learned trial Court i.e. the appellants as the 'defendants' and the respondent as 'the plaintiff'. For the sake of convenience, the facts are being drawn from RSA-3889-2001 titled as 'The State of Haryana and Others Vs. Ram Singh and Another'.

(3.) The plaintiffs Ram Singh and Sharda Rani are husband and wife. They had filed two separate suits being Civil Suit No.53 dtd. 6/5/1993 titled as 'Ram Singh Vs. The State of Haryana and Others'; and Civil Suit No.356 dtd. 24/5/1990 titled as 'Smt. Sharda Rani Vs. State of Haryana and Others' for recovery of Rs.2.00 lakh from the defendant State. Both the suits were consolidated by the learned trial court vide order dtd. 3/8/1992. It was the pleaded case of the plaintiffs that the marriage between the plaintiffs had taken place in the year 1977. By the year 1986, 4 children were born to the plaintiffs. Accordingly, the plaintiffs decided to go in for family planning operation. On 9/8/1986, plaintiff Ram Singh went to Primary Health Centre at Pehowa and got vasectomy operation done by defendant No.4 Dr. R.K. Goyal. A certificate bearing No.65/1 dtd. 9/8/1986 was issued to this effect. The plaintiffs were cautioned to abstain from intercourse for three months. It was the case of the plaintiffs that they had exercised due care and caution; and plaintiff had cohabited with his wife only after three months. However, Sharda Rani got pregnant. Then he went to the Civil Hospital and got himself checked and he was informed that the vasectomy operation had failed. Accordingly, they gave birth to their 5th child/4th daughter who was unwanted and unwelcome addition to their family. It was pleaded that the plaintiffs had undergone mental shock as well as immense physical torture due to the negligent act of the defendants. Accordingly, damages of Rs.2.00 lakh were sought.