FAO No. 1200 of 1994 -1- In the High Court of Punjab & Haryana at Chandigarh FAO No. 1200 of 1994 (O&M) Date of decision : 30.4.2010 State of Haryana and another ..... Appellant vs Master Parshant and others .... Respondents Coram: Hon'ble Mr. Justice Rajesh Bindal Present: Mr. D. D. Gupta, Additional Advocate General, Haryana. Rajesh Bindal J. The State is in appeal before this Court challenging the award passed by Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, Hisar (for short, `the Tribunal'), whereby the appellants and respondent nos. 2 and 3 were held liable to satisfy the award jointly and severally. Briefly, the facts are that on 7.2.1992, Master Parshant, aged 6 years, along with his uncle Sat Parkash and grand-father Lajja Ram, was proceeding on the left hand side of the road. When he reached the Kaimeri Road, a Haryana Roadways Bus, bearing registration no. HYT-9831, driven by respondent no. 2 in a rash and negligent manner, hit the boy. The front wheel of the bus ran over the leg of Master Parshant. He also received head injuries. He was admitted at Soni Hospital, Hisar. A sum of Rs. 5 lacs was spent on his treatment. The petition filed by the claimant was allowed by the learned Tribunal awarding total compensation of Rs. 4 lacs and holding the appellants and respondent nos. 2 and 3 liable to satisfy the award jointly and severally. It is this award which is impugned in the present appeal. Learned counsel for the appellants submitted that it was a case of contributory negligence and the appellants cannot be made liable to satisfy the award beyond 50% of the compensation. It was prayed that compensation granted by the learned Tribunal is on higher side and it deserves to be reduced. Heard learned counsel for the appellants and perused the paper-book. To prove the issue of negligence the claimant, who was 6 years of age at the time of accident, examined himself as PW1. He flawlessly stood the test of cross-examination. The driver of the offending vehicle in his examination-in- chief stated that one Mani Ram, who was a passenger in the bus, had helped him in transporting the injured to the hospital. But he did not produce the said Mani Ram in the witness box in support of his stand. Rather it has come in the evidence that FAO No. 1200 of 1994 -2- the driver of the offending vehicle fled away from the spot. In case it is claimed to be a case of contributory negligence, the driver of the offending vehicle should have agitated his stand and given the same to the police at the spot. In the absence of such evidence, it cannot be said that it is a case of contributory negligence. In support of his claim regarding compensation, the claimant produced PW2 Dr. S. K. Soni of Soni Nursing Home, Hisar, who stated that the claimant was brought to his nursing home on 7.2.1992 with head injury and crush injury of left leg and foot. It was also deposed by him that with the advise of Dr. Chawla, he had amputated his left leg below knee. The claimant remained admitted in the nursing home upto 18.2.1992 and thereafter also visited for follow up treatment. PW3 Om Parkash, who is the father of the claimant, deposed that he spent Rs. 20,000/- on the treatment of his son at Soni Nursing Home and thereafter he had taken him to Jaipur thrice for fixture of artificial limb. Ex. PD is the certificate of 70% disability issued by the General Hospital, Hisar. It is due to the rash and negligent driving of respondent no. 2 that a child aged about six years became handicapped for whole life and therefore, the compensation granted by the learned Tribunal cannot be said to be on higher side. Even otherwise, both the owner, driver of the bus and the insurance company were held liable to satisfy the award, jointly and severally. In view of the above, the appeal is dismissed. 30.4.2010 ( Rajesh Bindal) vs Judge