MULTANI Vs. PRITAM SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The challenge in appeal here is to the denial of compensation to the claimants on account of the finding that no negligence could be attributed to the driver of the bus with which the accident occurred.

(2.) Vijay Pal Verma was crossing the road on his cycle when he was run over and killed by the bus DLP 435 which came from the side of Delhi. This happened on March 26, 1978, at about 10.30 a.m. on the Panipat-Delhi road. As mentioned earlier, the finding of the Tribunal was that the accident had not been caused on account of any rash or negligent driving of the bus driver. The claimants, who are the parents and other relations of Vijay Pal Verma deceased were consequently not awarded any compensation.

(3.) The case of the claimants rests upon the testimony of P.W.1 Jai Singh and P.W.2 Sahib Singh, who claimed to have seen the accident. According to them, the deceased had crossed the road and had reached the other side of it when the bus went to its wrong side of the road and hit into him. The Tribunal did not rely upon the testimony of either of these witnesses and a reading of their testimony would show that the Tribunal cannot be faulted here. It would be seen that neither of these witnesses was cited as witness for the prosecution in the criminal case instituted against the bus driver arising out of this accident, nor were their names in the first information report which was recorded at the spot on the statement of another eye-witnesses P.W.5 Head Constable Ishwar Singh Admitted P.W.1 Jai Singh was a person interested in the deceased. He himself deposed to his intimate relations with the grandfather of the deceased. Yet, it is significant to note that he could not say on what part of the body, the deceased had sustained injuries, nor did he care to inform the parents of the deceased of this occurrence. Both these witnesses no doubt stated that the police had recorded their statements, but there is no evidence on record to corroborate this. No police official has been examined in this behalf, nor were their statements placed on record.