FAO No. 474 of 1989 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA, CHANDIGARH FAO No. 474 of 1989 Date of decision March 25, 2011 Hari Singh and another ....... Appellants Versus Pirthi Singh and others ........Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE K. KANNAN Present:- None. **** 1. Whether reporters of local papers may be allowed to see the judgment ? No 2. To be referred to the reporters or not? No 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the digest?No K. Kannan, J (oral). 1. The appeal is against the dismissal of the petition for compensation for death of a male aged 20 years in a motor accident. He was said to be a Cleaner in the truck bearing RRM-3065. The first claimant was the owner of the said truck and the deceased was his own son. The accident was said to have taken place in a collision of truck bearing number RRM 3065 with the truck going in front of him bearing HRT 4977. The accident had taken place, according to an eye witness PW-2 who was driving yet another vehicles bearing HRF 5244 vehicle that was coming behind the vehicle bearing number RRM 3065. According to him the accident had occurred when the truck in which the deceased was travelling drove against the back side of the truck HRT-4977 owned by second respondent. The court found that the accident had taken place only by his own driver who was driving RRM 3065 and not due to the negligence of the other vehicle owned by second respondent. The FAO No. 474 of 1989 2 dismissal of the petition holding that the negligence attributed to the driver of HRT-4977 cannot therefore be found to be wholly wrong. 2. However, the contention raised by the claimant is that it was a case of collision between two vehicles and in such a situation even without having to prove the fault of the respondent the claimants ought to have been provided for compensation on no fault basis under Section 92-A of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1939. The actual date of the accident is no where seen from the award. The award itself had been passed on 21.11.1988 and therefore the accident must have taken place before the said date. Section 92-A was brought in the statute through an amendment effective from 1.10.1982. By the amendment act 47 of 1982, the compensation payable under Section 92-A on no fault basis was `15,000/-. The claimants were entitled to `15,000/- against the owner and driver of the vehicle HRT-4977 who are respondent Nos. 2 and 1 respectively. The award is modified and there shall be an award for the claimants of `15,000/-. The amount in excess of what has been awarded by the Tribunal shall carry interest at the rate of 6% per annum from the date of petition till the date of payment against respondent Nos. 1 and 2. The amount shall be distributed equally amongst the claimants. The award is modified and the appeal is allowed. 3. There is no representation on behalf of the appellant. The Registry is directed to despatch copy of the order the the party directly. (K. KANNAN) JUDGE March 25, 2011 archana