Special Leave Petition Civil Nos
6698 6700 of 1979
867 From the Judgment and Order dated 25 10 1978 of the Rajasthan High Court in D B Civil Misc
Appeal Nos 195 196 and 197 of 1978
Soli J Sorabjee Soli
and Sobhagmal Jain for the Petitioner
M N Shroff for the Respondent
The Order of the Court was delivered by KRISHNA IYER J
These three petitions for special leave relate to a road tragedy where many lost their limbs while travelling in a bus belonging to the nationalised transport system of Rajasthan
A flimsy plea was put forward by the operator to escape liability for compensation that the lights of the bus accidentally failed and thus the unfortunate episode occurred
Other embellishments were also set up for the purpose of exoneration
The Accidents Tribunal was not taken in and having disbelieved the evidence awarded compensation in sums far lower than were claimed by the victims
Two contentions were raised and rightly over ruled and they have been repeated in the Petition for special leave and we similarly reject them
The nature of the accident and the surrounding circumstances are such that the doctrine res ipsa loquitur was rightly invoked by the court
Indeed the terrible accidents attributable to reckless driving and escalating year after year make our high ways great hazards
One should have thought that nationalisation of road transport would have produced a better sense of social responsibility on the part of the management and the drivers
In fact one of the major purposes of socialisation of transport is to inject a sense of safety accountability and operational responsibility which may be absent in the case of private undertakings whose motivation is profit making regardless of risk to life but common experience on Indian high ways discloses callousness and blunted consciousness on the part of public corporations which acquire a monopoly under the in plying buses
It is a thousand pities that our State Road Transport vehicles should become mobile menaces and we should impress upon them the need to have greater reverence for human life representing as they do the value set of the State itself
In the present case the State Corporation put forward a false plea and contested the application of the principle of res ipsa loquitur to avoid liability
It would have been more humane and just if instead of indulging in wasteful litigation the Corporation had hastened compassionately to settle the claims so that goodwill and public credibility could be improved
After all the State has a paramount duty apart 868 from liability for tort to make effective provision for disablement in cases of undeserved want Aritcle 41 of the Constitution states so
It was improper of the Corporation to have tenaciously resisted the claim
It was right on the part of the Tribunal to have raised a rebuttable presumption on the strength of the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur
The State Corporation has contested even the quantum of the claim
Indian life and limb cannot be treated as cheap at least by State instrumentalities
The heads of claim have been correctly appreciated by the Tribunal and the awards have been moderate
Here again the State Corporation should have sympathised with the victims of the tragic accident and generously adjusted the claims within a short period
What is needed is not callous litigation but greater attention to the efficiency of service including insistence on competent cautious and responsible driving
We have had the advantage of Shri Soli J Sorabjee who represented the Corporation with a characteristic sense of fairness but we are unable to desist from making the above observations which are induced by the hope that nationalised transport service will eventually establish their superiority over the private system and sensitively respond to the comforts of and avoid injury to the travelling public and the pedestrian users of our highways
We dismiss the Special Leave Petitions
NVK Petitions dismissed


Summary:
The respondents lost their limbs in a road accident while travelling in a bus belonging to the petitioner a nationalised transport system
The plea by the operator to escape the liability for compensation was that the lights of the bus accidentally failed which resulted in the accident
The Accidents Claims Tribunal negatived the plea and awarded compensation in sums far lower than were claimed by the respondents
In the special leave petitions to this Court the petitioner contested the application of the principle of res ipsa loquitur and the quantum of the claim
Dismissing the petitions  HELD 1
i It was improper of the Corporation to have tenaciously resisted the claim
868 A ii It was right on the part of the Tribunal to have raised a rebuttable presumption on the strength of the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur
868 B 2
The heads of claim have been correctly appreciated by the Tribunal and the awards have been moderate
868 C 3
Instead of indulging in wasteful litigation it would have been more humane and just if the Corporation had hastened compassionately to settle the claims so that goodwill and public credibility could be improved
867 H 4
The State has a paramount duty apart from liability for tort to make effective provision for disablement in cases of undeserved want Article 41 of the Constitution states so
868 A 5
Nationalisation of road transport should have produced a better sense of social responsibility on the part of the management and drivers
One of the major purposes of socialisation of transport is to inject a sense of safety accountability and operational responsibility which may be absent in the case of private undertakings whose motivation is profit making regardless of risk to life
867 E F 6
Common experience on Indian high ways disclose callousness and blunted consciousness on the part of public corporations which acquire a monopoly under the in plying buses
It is a pity that State Road Transport vehicles should become mobile menaces
867 G