FAO No.758 of 2008(O&M) [ 1 ] IN THE HIGH COURT FOR THE STATES OF PUNJAB & HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH ... FAO No.758 of 2008 (O&M) Janta Express Private Limited ... Appellant VERSUS Smt.Daljit Kaur and others ... Respondents FAO No.759 of 2008 (O&M) Janta Express Private Limited ... Appellant VERSUS Rajinder Kumar and others ... Respondents FAO No.760 of 2008 (O&M) Janta Express Private Limited ... Appellant VERSUS Bachan Kaur and others ... Respondents FAO No.761 of 2008 (O&M) Janta Express Private Limited ... Appellant VERSUS Amro and others ... Respondents FAO No.758 of 2008(O&M) [ 2 ] FAO No.762 of 2008 (O&M) Janta Express Private Limited ... Appellant VERSUS Surinder Kumar Banga and others ... Respondents and FAO No.763 of 2008 (O&M) Janta Express Private Limited ... Appellant VERSUS Kulwinder Kaur and others ... Respondents Decided on : September 08, 2009 CORAM : HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE A.N.JINDAL Present: Mr.Tajinder Pal Singh, Advocate for the appellants. Mr.R.S.Athwal, Advocate. Mr.J.S.Rattu, Advocate. Mr.Malkeet Singh, Advocate. A.N.JINDAL, J.- This judgment of mine shall dispose of six appeals i.e. FAO Nos.758 to 763 of 2008, arising out of the same motor vehicle accident. All the appeals have been filed by Janta Express Private Limited – appellant/owner (herein referred as the appellant) of the offending bus bearing Reg.No.PB-09A-3851, challenging the award dated 30.10.2007 FAO No.758 of 2008(O&M) [ 3 ] passed by Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Nawanshahr, whereby, the respondents – claimants (herein referred as the claimants) were awarded compensation as under:- Claim Petition No. (Appeal No.) Compensation Awarded 35 of 2006 (FAO No.758 of 2008) Claimants Daljit Kaur, Satwinder Kaur and Navinrder Singh were awarded Rs.2,35,800/- on account of the death of Gurnam Singh, (driver of Tempo No.PVQ-2575) 36 of 2006 (FAO No.759 of 2008) Claimants Rajinder Kaur and Pankaj Kumar Sudhir were awarded Rs.1,75,000/- on account of the death of Raj Kumari (passenger of Tempo No.PVQ-2575) 37 of 2006 (FAO No.760 of 2008) Claimants Bachan Kaur, Des Raj and Bimal Kumar were awarded Rs.1,11,000/- on account of the death of Swarn Chand (passenger of Tempo No.PVQ-2575) 43 of 2006 (FAO No.761 of 2008) Claimants Amro, Ramesh Kumar, Harbans Lal, Sarwan Kumar and Raj Kumar were awarded Rs.1,11,000/- on account of the death of Sadhu Ram (passenger of Tempo No.PVQ-2575) 23 of 2004 (FAO No.762 of 2008) Claimant Surinder Kumar Banga was awarded Rs.2,74,000/- on account of the injuries suffered by him in the motor vehicle accident (passenger of Tempo No.PVQ- 2575) 42 of 2006 (FAO No.763 of 2008) Claimant Kulwinder Kaur, Bhag Ram, Usha Rani and Tavleen were awarded Rs.4,23,000/- on account of the death of Jaswant Singh (passenger of Tempo No.PVQ-2575) The appellant – owner of the offending bus, who along with FAO No.758 of 2008(O&M) [ 4 ] Rajwinder Singh alias Raju (respondent No.1- driver of the said bus) has been held liable to pay the compensation to the claimants, has challenged the impugned award solely on the ground that the accident had occurred due to the bursting of the tyre of the tempo, as a result of which it turned turtle and that the Bus never hit the tempo. The claimants in order to prove that the accident occurred as a result of the negligence of respondent Rajwinder Singh alias Raju, examined two witnesses, namely Navinder Singh (PW1) and Sarwan Kumar (PW3). The statement of Navinder Singh was discarded by the Tribunal on the ground that neither he had been travelling in the Tempo, nor was present at the place of occurrence. However, the Tribunal relied upon the statement of Sarwan Kumar (PW3), the sole eye-witness, who stated that on 11.12.2002 at about 9.15 a.m, when he was present near the Taxi Union, Rahon, being its President, then he saw the offending bus (Reg.No.PB-09A-3851) of Janta Express Company Private Limited coming from the direction of Nawanshahar at a very high speed, being driven rashly and negligently, which in the process of over-taking a four-wheeler came on the wrong side of the road and struck against the three-wheeler (tempo bearing Reg.No.PVQ-2575). He further stated that as a result of the said accident, Gurnam Singh and three other passengers of the three-wheeler died at the spot. The testimony of the aforesaid witness could not be shattered even after lengthy cross-examination. He being an independent and impartial witness, there is nothing to disbelieve him. The appellant in order to rebut the evidence of the claimants examined Rajwinder Singh – respondent (driver of the offending bus) as FAO No.758 of 2008(O&M) [ 5 ] RW1, who stated that the tempo had over-turned due to its overloading and bursting of its tyre and also due to a mechanical defect. His testimony stands uncorroborated by any evidence, much less the report given by Motor Mechanic. The Tribunal while probing into the testimonies of the witnesses examined by both the parties observed that the testimony of Rajwinder Singh being unreliable could not be trusted as in one breath, he has taken the double stand; one by bursting of the tyre due to over-loading and the other, on account of mechanical defect. The presence of Sarwan Kumar (PW3) was natural on the spot, as he was the President of the Tempo Union, where the accident had occurred. The fact that the First Information Report was lodged by him promptly, also establishes his presence on the spot. No motive could be attributed to him for giving a tainted or false version regarding the manner of the accident. As such, no fault could be found with the Tribunal in relying on his statement. On examination of the judgment regarding the argument qua exaggerated compensation, it appears that the Tribunal took the right view while taking into consideration the age, occupation and loss due to sudden termination of life on account of the deceased persons, so as he has assessed the loss rightly, suffered by the injured on account of the injuries. No reasons were assigned to support the argument that the compensation was exaggerated. No other point was urged. Hence, all the six appeals are dismissed being devoid of any merit. September 08, 2009 ( A.N.JINDAL ) `gian' JUDGE