PARKASH VATI Vs. SULAKHAN SINGH ALIAS LAKHA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS judgment will dispose of the L. P. A. Nos. 452, 453 and 454 of 1986. These three appeals are directed against the judgment dated 28. 1. 1986 of a learned single Judge of this Court delivered in F. A. O. No. 283 of 1982. The other F. A. O. Nos. 360 and 284 of 1982 were declined as per the judgment rendered in F. A. O. No. 283 of 1982. The first appeals aforesaid were filed against the judgment dated 19. 12. 1981 passed by Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, Kapurthala, dismissing three Motor Accident Claim Case Nos. 4, 5 and 6 of 1978 which were instituted the same day, i. e. , on 15. 6. 1978 by the heirs of the deceased Babu Lal, his grand-daughter Sonia and one Bagga Singh, driver of the Jonga jeep. The three claim petitions were filed in respect of motor accident taking place on 19. 12. 1977 around 8. 00 a. m. in the area of Chachoki in which all the three occupants of Jonga jeep bearing registration No. PNH 9130 died when their vehicle collided with a truck No. PUG 3585. Deceased Babu Lal was the owner of Jonga jeep. Motor Accident Claim Case No. 4 of 1978 was filed by Parkash Vati, widow of Babu Lal aforesaid and his three sons, namely, Parshotam Lal, Ashok Kumar and Satish Kumar. The other deceased was Sonia, aged about four years, grand-daughter of Babu Lal aforesaid. Motor Accident Claim Case No. 5 of 1978 was filed by Parshotam Lal Jain and his wife Promila Rani claiming compensation for the death of their daughter Sonia in the said accident. The third Motor Accident Claim Case No. 6 of 1978 was filed by Deepo, widow of Bagga Singh deceased, driver of jeep and his minor sons Ramesh Kumar and Roshan Lal, who were impleaded through their mother and guardian Deepo.

(2.) BRIEF facts regarding the said accident, which have been taken from M. A. C. C. No. 4 of 1978, may be mentioned as under: Babu Lal (deceased) accompanied by his grand-daughter Sonia (deceased) was returning to Hoshiarpur on 19. 12. 1977 from Ludhiana in this jeep driven by Bagga Singh (deceased ). When the jeep reached the place of occurrence, the offending truck No. PUG 3585 was coming from the opposite direction which was being driven rashly and negligently by the respondent Sulakhan Singh and it hit the jeep with such an impact that Babu Lal and Sonia died at the spot, while Bagga Singh, driver sustained serious injuries and he succumbed to the injuries on way to hospital at Phagwara which was situated at a distance of a few miles from the place of occurrence near village Chachoki. A report of this accident was lodged at P. S. Sadar, Phagwara where the case under Sections 304-A/279 of the Indian Penal Code was registered against Sulakhan Singh, driver of the truck aforesaid. It was further averred that the said truck was insured with Oriental Fire & General Insurance Co. Ltd. , Kanwan, District Gurdaspur. The heirs of Babu Lal (deceased) (claimants of M. A. C. C. No. 4 of 1978) claimed compensation of a sum of Rs. 1,50,000, whereas the claimants of M. A. C. C. No. 5 of 1978, i. e. , the parents of Sonia (deceased) claimed compensation of Rs. 50,000. The heirs of the driver Bagga Singh (deceased) claimed compensation of Rs. 1,00,000. The allegations common in all the petitions were that the accident was caused due to the rash and negligent driving of the offending truck by its driver Sulakhan Singh because he struck into the jeep by taking the truck to the wrong side and dragged the jeep down the road in a pit. Gurnam Singh, respondent No. 2, Gopal Dass Ghai, respondent No. 3 and M/s. Gurnam Singh Gopal Dass Ghai, respondent No. 4 were mentioned to be the owners of the offending truck. Babu Lal (deceased) was alleged to be a partner of the general merchants firm M/s. Babu Di Fancy Hatti, Sarafan Bazar, Hoshiarpur and his yearly income at the time of accident was stated to be not less than Rs. 13,590. Bagga Singh (deceased) was employed as a driver by Babu Lal on the said jeep and he was getting monthly salary of Rs. 200.

(3.) THE claimants of the respective claim petitions felt aggrieved against the judgment of the Tribunal and they filed first appeals in this Court. F. A. O. No. 283 of 1982 was filed by the claimants Parkash Vati and others of Claim Case No. 4 of 1978. F. A. O. No. 284 of 1982 was filed by the claimants of Claim Case No. 6 of 1978, i. e. , the widow and minor sons of Bagga Singh, driver of the jeep. The third F. A. O. No. 360 of 1982 was filed by the parents of deceased Sonia. The learned single Judge decided F. A. O. No. 283 of 1982 vide his judgment dated 28. 1. 1986. The other two F. A. O. Nos. 284 and 360 of 1982 were decided in the light of judgment rendered in F. A. O. No. 283 of 1982. According to the findings recorded by the learned single Judge, the Tribunal had rightly rejected the testimony of the witnesses examined by the claimants and in not relying upon the presence of witnesses Joginder Singh and Parshotam Lal, he held that the findings recorded on the issue of negligence could not be faulted. He held that the principle of res ipsa loquitur was, no doubt, attracted and the negligence in the accident was indeed writ large, but the question which still went abegging was as: due to whose negligence the accident was caused? He held that the claimants had failed to establish that it was on account of the negligence of the truck driver that the accident had occurred. In the result, the appeals were dismissed. Thereupon the claimants filed three separate L. P. As. , referred to above, which are being disposed of by this common judgment as they involve discussion of common points of facts and law. We have heard learned Counsel for the appellants and learned Counsel for the respondents and have carefully perused the judgment of learned single Judge as well as the judgment of learned Presiding Judge of the Tribunal.