N.N.MITHAL, J. - (1.) ON 3-2-1972, an accident occurred near village Chaudharpur, 16 Kms. away from Moradabad on the Moradabad-Garhmuk-teshwar Road involving U.P. Road Transport Corporation (U P.S.R.T.C. hereafter) Bus No. USE 3108. Apart from others, the five claimants were also injured who filed petitions Under Section 110-A of the Motor Vehicles Act before the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal at Moradabad. Those claim petitions have given rise to the present FA F.Os. The details of the respective cases and the F.A.F.Os. arising from each of them are given in the table below: Claim Case F.A.FO. Claimant Claimed Awarded 1. 3 of 1972 458/78 R.P. Rastogi 22,000/- Nil 2. 4 of 1972 319/78 Alok 27,300/- 9,300/- with X-objection. 3. 5 of 1972 318/78 Shekhar 25,500/- 2,000/- with X-objection. 4. 6 of 1972 320/78 Prashant 26,800/- 2,000/- X-appeal 459 of 1978. 5. 7 of 1972 321/78 Meenakshi 29,000/- 6,000/- with X-objection.
(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 F.A.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 R.P. Rastogi which has been rejected in toto, he has filed F.A.F.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 3-5-1972, 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 intermittently and the road was wet with the result it had become slipperly. 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 Kms. away from Moradabad, the bus skidded and after travelling 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 ripped 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 but 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. 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 left the Bus Station late so as require speeding bus 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.
(3.) AT the very outset, it may by stated that the appellant U.P.S.R.T.C. has filed Ext 65 which is a report given by one K.D. Arora, (DW 3) who was Assistant General Manager of the Corporation at Moradabad at the relevant time. According to his report dated February 4, 1972, the scheduled time for the bus to leave Moradabad was 6-30 A.M. and the accident had taken place 16 kms. out of Moradabad. In his report, he has mentioned that the accident took place at about 7-20 in the morning and it was a clouded day with slight drizzle which had caused the road patris to be muddy. He has reported that on account of the slippery nature of the road, the bus skidded towards the left and when the driver tried to turn it to the right, he lost control and consequently the bus struck against the Sheesham tree. According to him, out of 25 passengers in the bus, 14 or 15 received minor injuries while seven others received serious injuries who were admitted to the Civil Hospital. He also mentioned that the tocograph fixed in the bus was not functioning. He also found that the right front portion of the body of the bus upto half the length of the bus had been damaged and the seats had been uprooted. In the end he has mentioned that a detailed report on the relevant forms will be submitted to the Regional Manager, Bareilly. A copy of this report has also been endorsed amongst others to the Superintendent of Police, Moradabad, with a request to inform about the police report. Another copy was endorsed to the Civil Surgeon, Moradabad to send the injury report of the injured passengers to his office.;