DAYA KRISHAN Vs. MAJ. SUKH DAYAL SHARMA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE challenge in appeal here is to the award of Rs. 9,338/- as compensation for the injuries sustained by him in an accident with the tractor PUP-8158.

(2.) THE incident in the present case took place on September 9, 1979 at about 11.15 A.M. in front of house No. 466 in Sector 15-A, Chandigarh. Major Sukh Dayal Sharma and his wife were coming on scooter on their correct side of the road when the tractor, while being reversed, knocked down the scooter. No serious injury was caused thereby to either Major Sukh Dayal Sharma or his wife. The claimant, however, insisted that the tractor be left at the spot as he wanted to report the matter to the police. An altercation then ensured between the claimant and Mohan Lal the driver of the tractor and Daya Krishan, who also came there at that time. Different accounts of what happened thereafter have been given by the claimant and by Daya Krishan and Mohan Lal. According to the claimant, Daya Krishan sat on the driver's seat and suddenly started the tractor as a result of which he was run over by the rear wheel thereof and sustained serious injuries. Mohan Lal and Daya Krishan, on the other hand, took the plea that the tractor started as the result of the negligence of the claimant himself when he fiddled with the gear lever as a result of which the tractor took a jump and the claimant fell down and came under the wheel of the tractor.

(3.) THE point in controversy between the parties is mainly with regard to the starting of the tractor after the scooter had earlier been hit by it, namely; whether it was started by Daya Krishan or it was on account of the act of the claimant himself in fiddling with the gear lever that it started moving. There is an inherent implausibility in the story put-forth by the tractor-driver and his witness. As is well known, in order to change gears of a tractor, the clutch must be pressed and what is more, common experience shows that gears of the tractor are not so light that with a mere touch, they can be changed from one gear to another. A certain amount of effort is required for this purpose. The version, that the tractor took a jump when the claimant fiddled with the gear lever, cannot, therefore, be accepted.