N.N. Mithal, J. - (1.) An accident occurred at about 6 a.m. on 14-5-1976 when an Ambassador Car No. UPA 9829 was proceeding from Narora to Aligarh and was hit by Bus No. UPB 7979 coming from the opposite direction near Chhatari crossing on Anupshahar road, mid-way between Narora and Aligarh. As a result of this accident Abbas alias Bengali, driver of the Car and one of the passengers Smt. Beena were killed on the spot. The accident gave rise to two claim petitions. Motor Accidents Claim Petition No. 18 of 1976 was lodged by the widow and heirs of Abbas claiming a sum of Rs. 50,000/- while Motor Accident Claim Petition No. 19 of 1976 was lodged by one Panna Lal, owner of the Car, his brother, children and the heirs of Smt. Beena deceased. They put forward a claim for Rs. 21,000/- consisting of a claim of Rs. 8000/- for damages to the Car, Rs. 3000/- for injuries pains and sufferings caused to Gopal Krishna and Rs. 10,000/- for loss of consortium and love and affection to the children of Gopal Krishna and himself.
(2.) The claim petitions were contested by the owner and driver of the Bus as also by the insurer. A number of grounds were taken but the main grounds were that the accident was not caused on account of any rashness or negligence on the part of the Bus driver and secondly that the amount claimed was excessive. It is not necessary to refer to several other grounds that were taken by the opp. party as they have been very competently dealt with by the Accident Claims Tribunal. The learned counsel for the Bus owner as also Sri Shashi Nandan, appearing for the Insurance Co, have attached the findings merely on the above two main points.
(3.) Having heard the learned counsel and on going through the evidence on record and the award of the Tribunal I do not find that any grounds exists for interference with the findings of the Tribunal on any of the two findings. In a detailed award the Tribunal has considered all the relevant evidence and has come to the conclusion that at the relevant time the Car was on the extreme left side of the road when it was hit by the Bus which had come to its wrong side before hitting the Car resulting in the two deaths and injury to the occupants and damage to the Car. The Bus owner sought support from the oral testimony of Ramesh Chandra, Bharat Bhushan and Basant Kumar whose statements were discussed by the Tribunal in great detail and has come to the conclusion that it was not safe to rely upon their testimony. Gopal Krishna one of the claimants in MAG No. 19 of 1976 was admittedly an occupant of the Car involved in the accident and had seen the manner in which, the accident had taken place. The driver of the Car having died in the accident it was not possible for the claimant to produce him as a witness. The other eye witness would have been the driver of the Bus who, according to the claimant, was Manveer Singh, the owner himself but he denied being at the wheal of the Bus at the relevant time. Manbeer Singh, therefore, could not state any thing about the actual manner in which the accident had occurred although on the findings recorded by the Tribunal it was he who was driving the Bus.;