JUDGMENT :

Mukhi, J.

1. It is unfortunate that this appeal from a decision of the Civil Judge, Senior Division, Poona, in Special Civil Suit No. 32 of 1963 in a running-down action is being heard ten years after it was admitted and as much as thirteen years since the date of the accident in which the deceased Shridhar Bapu Shetty lost his life.

2. Special Civil Suit No. 32 of 1963 has been filed by the wife and children of the deceased and is a claim u/s 1A of the Indian Fatal Accidents Act, 1855. The learned Civil Judge raised the necessary issues, including an issue on the question of alleged negligence and the quantum of damages as claimed by the plaintiffs. He also raised the issue as to the maintainability of the suit against defendant No. 2, the Dairy Development Officer of Maharashtra State and a further issue, being issue No. 3, which is in the following words:

Do plaintiffs prove that the deceased was following the rules of the road as alleged by, them?

It is significant that the learned Civil Judge decided this issue in the affirmative and thereby held that so far as the deceased was concerned he was riding his bicycle and going on the left, i.e. the proper side, and was obser