JUDGMENT :

1. Aggrieved by the order and decree dated 13.09.2012 in M.V.O.P. No. 579 of 2009 passed by the Chairman, Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal-cum-I Additional District Judge, Kadapa (for short, "the tribunal"), the second respondent, New India Assurance Company Limited, represented by its Divisional Manager, Kadapa, preferred the present appeal seeking dismissal of the M.V.O.P.

2. For convenience, the parties herein will be referred to as arrayed in the M.V.O.P.

3. The claimant has filed a claim petition under Section 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act seeking compensation of Rs. 6,00,000/- for the injuries he sustained in a motor vehicle accident that occurred on 22.04.2008.

4. The claimant's case is that on 22.04.2008 at about 7.00 p.m., as a compounder-cum-attender, he was accompanied by a patient, namely Giri, in the ambulance bearing No. A.P. 05 V 6632 to take him to S.V.R.R. Hospital, Tirupati, from Seelam Nursing Home. After joining the said patient at S.V.R.R. Hospital, he was travelling back in the same ambulance. At about 3.00 a.m. on 23.04.2008, the said ambulance reached Korlakunta village on the Tirupati-Kadapa main road, and the said ambulance driver drove it in a