N.N. Mithal, J. - (1.) ON 3.2.1972, an accident occurred near village Chaudharpur, 16 km. away from Moradabad on the Moradabad -Garhmukteshwar Road involving U.P. State Road Transport Corporation (U.P.S.R.T.C. hereinafter) bus No. USE 3108. Apart from others, the five claimants were also inured who filed petitions under Section 110 -A of the Motor Vehicles Act before the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal at Moradabad. Those claim petitions have given rise to the present F.A.F. Os. The details of the respective cases and the FAF. Os. arising from each of them are given in the table below: (1) 3 of 1972 458/78 RP. Rastogi 22,000/ - Nil (2) 4 of 1972 319/78 with X -objection Alok 27,300/ - 9,300/ - (3) 5 of 1972 318/78 with X -objection Shekhar 25,500/ - 2,000/ - (4) 6 of 1972 320/78 X -appeal 459 of 1978 Prashant 26,800/ - 2,000/ - (5) 7 of 1972 321/78 with X -objection Meenakshi 29,000/ - 6,000/ -
(2.) IT will be noticed that while the claim petition moved by R.P. Rastogi was rejected, all others were partially allowed giving rise to FA.F. Os. filed by the U.P.S.R.T.C. Cross -objections and in one case a cross -appeal have been filed while the claim petition filed by RP. Rastogi which has been rejected in toto, he has filed F.AF.O. No. 458 of 1978. The relevant facts may be stated as under: The claimants are residents of Siyana in District Bulandshahr and had come to Moradabad in connection with a marriage there. After the marriage when the claimants were returning by the aforesaid bus from Moradabad on 3.2.1972, it got late and instead of starting at 6.30 a.m., its scheduled time, it left Moradabad, at about 7.15 a.m. Since the bus was late, the driver was in a hurry to make up for the lost time and for that reason, the driver Gajram was driving the vehicle very rashly and negligently. It was raining intermittency and the road was wet with the result it had become slippery. There was overnight rain also. Despite all these facts, the driver was driving the bus very fast and in a rash and negligent manner. When the bus reached village Chaudharpur about 16 km. away from Moradabad, the bus skidded and after traveling for nearly 200 meters, it turned to the right, crossed the road and the right side patri and hit a sheesham tree on the right side of the road with such impact that the trunk of the tree lipped into the body of the bus upto one -third of its length. The claimants who were seated just behind the driver's seat were all badly injured and were immediately rushed to the Civil Hospital at Moradabad where they were given initial treatment. Since the injuries received were of a serious nature, they were later treated in the hospitals in Delhi. The claimants put forward their claims as set out; above in the table and each of them has been awarded compensation as is also noted in the said table.
(3.) ALL the claim petitions were contested on behalf of the U.P.S.R.T.C. on the ground that the bus was not being driven either rashly or in a negligent manner; the road and the side patri was muddy and, therefore, for reasons beyond the control of the driver, the bus had skidded before hitting the tree, the injuries received by the claimants were only minor in nature and the claims have been exaggerated and that the bus had not eft the bus station late so as to require speeding to make up for the delay. A few other technical objections were also raised but the Learned Counsel for the U.P.S.R.T.C. has very rightly confined his arguments on the question of negligence and quantum of damages.;