A charge sheet against the bus driver did not preclude finding contributory negligence from spot evidence.

The claimants, parents of Sunil Kumar, sought compensation for his death in a collision between his motorcycle and a KSRTC bus on 4 May 2022.

The Tribunal held the bus driver solely liable and awarded ₹28,20,668 with interest at 6% per annum.

KSRTC appealed, challenging both the finding on liability and the quantum of compensation.

The High Court considered the spot mahazar and sketch, which showed tyre marks on the bus’s side of the road, and the evidence of the deceased’s income.

1. Whether the Tribunal erred in holding KSRTC solely liable, or whether the deceased motorcyclist was contributorily negligent.

2. Whether the Tribunal erred in assessing the deceased’s income and the resulting compensation.

The appeal was brought under Section 173(1) of the Motor Vehicles Act.

The Court applied the principle of contributory negligence, under which compensation liability may be apportioned where the injured person or deceased also contributed to the accident.

It assessed negligence from the available evidence, including the spot mahazar and sketch.

No precedent was cited.

In considering the compensation assessment, the Court accepted the deceased’s proved income, less professional tax, as the relevant monthly income.

The spot mahazar and sketch showed tyre marks on the left side of the road on which the bus was travelling; after the collision, both vehicles were also found on that side.

The Court inferred that the bus driver had applied the brakes but could not avoid the motorcycle, which had come onto the bus’s side of the road.

Although the charge sheet named only the bus driver and contained no eyewitness account, the physical evidence supported a finding that the deceased also contributed to the accident.

The Court therefore apportioned negligence at 20% to the deceased and 80% to the bus driver.

On quantum, it upheld the Tribunal’s use of monthly income of ₹17,818, calculated from the April 2022 gross pay of ₹18,018 less ₹200 professional tax.

The claimants were held entitled to 80% of the Tribunal’s award, amounting to ₹22,56,534, with interest at 6% per annum from the date of the petition until realization.

KSRTC was directed to deposit the amount, including any sum already deposited, within six weeks; the Tribunal’s directions on apportionment between the claimants remained unchanged.