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Judgment
N.C. Jain, J.—Truck No. HRC-7273 being driven by Niranjan Singh hit the parked bus from behind killing Kanahya Lai another Bus driver
who was repairing his bus on November 6, 1978, in the area of village Serai Khawaja on the Palwal-Delhi Road. His widow Bhagwanti filed a
petition u/s 110-A of the Motor Vehicles Act, for the grant of compensation. It was found as a fact by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal which
finding has been affirmed by the learned Single Judge that Kanahya Lai died on account of rash and negligent driving of the truck driver of the
aforementioned truck. The claimants were granted a sum of Rs. 6750/- by the Tribunal. On appeal, the learned Single Judge of this Court
enhanced the compensation amount to Rs. 80,000/- by recording a finding that in view of the size of the family which consisted of a widow and
five sons between the age of 5 to 17 years, the deceased must be contributing a sum of Rs. 400/- per month out of his salary which was adjudged
to be between Rs. 450/- to Rs. 500/- per month. The learned Single Judge, in other words, determined the annual dependency of the claimants at
the rate of Rs. 4,800/-. After applying the normal multiplier of 16 because the age of the deceased was 39 years, the learned Single Judge
determined the amount of compensation at Rs. 76,800/- which was rounded off to Rs. 80,000/-.
The only argument advanced before the learned Single Judge by the Insurance Company was that the claimants were not entitled to claim any
compensation under the Motor Vehicles Act as they claimed compensation under the Workmen''s Compensation Act. The argument did not find
favour with the learned Single Judge because no such plea was raised in the written statement. Bhagwanti denied in her statement that she ever filed
any application for compensation under the Workmen''s Compensation Act and in view thereof it was rightly held that Exh. R-3 drafted by
Bhagwanti''s brother would not make any difference to the case of the claimants particularly when she stated that the application Ex. R-3 was not
read over to her and her signatures were only obtained upon the same. Bhagwanti has been found to be illiterate woman and, therefore, any
admission made by her that she had received Rs. 3,000/- from the Commissioner under the Workmen''s Compensation Act cannot be said to be
such a circumstance which would debar her from claiming compensation under the Motor Vehicles Act. Moreover, we are of the firm view that no
amount of evidence can be looked into a plea which is not taken in the written statement.
For the reasons recorded above, this appeal is found to be devoid of any merit and is consequently ordered to be dismissed with costs.
Counsel''s fee is quantified at Rs. 2,000/-.