Mahesh S/O Girimallayya Ganakumar v. Sri. Bandagisab and Anr.
Case brief
What is this about?
Contributory negligence; bus driver not a party to claim petition; violation of principles of natural justice; admissions without foundation; entire evidence to be read as a whole; entire liability on lorry driver; insurer of lorry liable to pay entire compensation; quantum upheld (fractures of ribs; no loss of future earning; no enhancement); deposit of awarded amount with accrued interest within six weeks; claims Tribunal award modified; appeal partly allowed; Karnataka High Court. Caution: source text suffers severe font/OCR corruption; figures, names, dates and citations are unrecoverable.
What did the court decide?
Appeal allowed in part: the impugned judgment and award of the Tribunal stands 'modified' - the finding of contributory negligence on the driver of the Bus is set aside and the entire liability is fastened on the driver of the lorry, whose insurer (the respondent Insurance Company) must deposit the entire awarded compensation, less the amount already deposited, with accrued interest, within six weeks of receipt of the order copy, for release to the claimants; the quantum award itself is upheld and kept intact, with no enhancement.