- (1.) Present appeal has been filed by the United India Insurance Company Limited challenging the award dated 29.3.2014 passed by the learned Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Rupnagar (for brevity, 'the Tribunal'), whereby an amount of Rs. 15,60,000/- along with interest @ 6% per annum was awarded in favour of respondent Nos. 1 to 4 (claimants).
(2.) The learned counsel for the appellant contends that in the accident in question as many as four vehicles, including the vehicle of Mehma Singh (since deceased), were involved; as per the findings returned by the learned Tribunal, three vehicles viz truck/tipper bearing registration No. PB-65-J-5208, Indica car bearing registration No. PB-10-BL-1175, and Jeep bearing registration No. CHK-6314, were held to be the offending vehicles; and that due to their composite negligence Mehma Singh succumbed to the injuries sustained by him in the accident. Learned counsel for the appellant further argued that it was incumbent upon the learned Tribunal to apportion the inter se liability of all the three drivers of the offending vehicles. In support of his contentions, he has placed reliance on the judgments in the cases of Sushila Bhadoriya and others v. M.P. State Road Transport Corporation, 2005 2 RCR(Civ) 177 , and Narinderpal Singh v. Punjab State through Secretary Transport, Punjab Government, Chandigarh and others, 1989 ACJ 708.
(3.) The brief facts of the case are that on 11.12.2001, at about 11:30p.m., Mehma Singh (since deceased) was going to Morinda from Sirhind on a scooter, bearing registration No. PB-65- B-3958, at a moderate speed and being driven with due care and caution. Jagdish Singh, a brother of Mehma Singh, was following him on his motorcycle bearing registration No. PB-12-F-2965. When the scooter of Mehma Singh crossed the railway overbridge and reached near "Star Resorts", Fatehgarh Sahib, and found that a truck/tipper bearing registration No. PB-65-J-5208 was parked on the wrong side of the road without any indicator or reflector. In the meantime, Indica car bearing registration No. PB-10-BL-1175 emerged there at a high speed, which was being driven in a rash or negligent manner, and struck on the rear side of the stationary truck/tipper bearing registration No. PB-65-J- 5208. At the same time, Jeep bearing registration No. CHK-6314 also emerged there at a high speed, which was also being driven in a rash or negligent manner, and collided with the Indica car bearing registration No. PB-10-BL-1175. As a result of collusion of said three vehicles, the Jeep bearing registration No. CHK-6314, hit the scooter driven by Mehma Singh and as such, he (Mehma Singh) fell down on the road and received numerous injuries on his person. The driver of truck/tipper bearing registration No. PB- 65-J-5208 tried to slip away from the spot, but the people gathered at the spot caught him and forced him to stay there. Mehma Singh was carried to the Civil Hospital, Fatehgarh Sahib, where he was declared "brought dead". The autopsy on the corpus of Mehma Singh was conducted at Civil Hospital, Fatehgarh Sahib. The matter was reported to the police of Police Station, Fatehgarh Sahib, vide FIR No. 170, dated 12.12.2011, for the offences punishable under Sections 283, 304-A, 337 and 427, IPC. Mehma Singh was stated to be working as a volunteer Home Guard in the Chandigarh Police and earning Rs. 12,500/- per month. The claimants were wholly dependent upon the earning of Mehma Singh, therefore, they filed the claim petition, claiming Rs. 30,00,000/- along with interest @ 18% per annum from the date of filing of the petition till realization of the awarded amount.;