The liability of an Insurance Company for compensation in a motor vehicle accident case can be unlimited if the Insurance Company has charged additional premium to cover the risk of the passenger to an unlimited extent.

( 1 ) DELHI Transport Corporation (hereinaftercalled dtc ) has sought for the reversal of the judgment of the Motoraccidents Claims Tribunal (hereinafter called the tribunal ) dated 2 2/02/1980.

( 2 ) THE admitted facts on record are that on 5/02/1993 atabout 3. 25 p. m. the deceased Kartar Singh was travelling in private bus No. D. L. P. 3677 under DTC operation. While the said bus was taking a turntowards the Red Fort and entered the crossing of Netaji Subhash Marg nearchhatta Rly. Pul, at that time DTC Bus No. D. L. P. 73 came from Jamunabridge side and entered the crossing. In the process DTC bus No. D. L. P. 73 hit the left side of bus No. D. L. P. 3677. On account of the collision of boththe buses, the deceased who was at the rear gate of bus No. D. L. P. 3677 received grievous injuries. He fell on the road and became unconscious. Hewas removed to the hospital where he succumbed to the injuries. Thedeceased was 18 years old, a student of 11th class and unmarried at the time of the accident. The Tribunal came to the conclusion that it was the driver of DTC bus who struck the rear portion of the bus with the private bus comingto the Kauria Bridge side. The bus No. "d. L. P. 3677 had already crossedmajor portion of the crossing. That the accident occurred due to rash andnegligent driving on the part of the driver of the DTC bus No. D. L. P. 73. Itis against this conclusion of the Tribunal that the present appeal has beenpreferred, challenging the said conclusion, inter alia, on the grounds that the Tribunal erroneously placed reliance on the FIR rather than the sworn testimony of Public Witness 7. The decision of the Tribunal is against claimant s own casei. e. was composite negligence. Similarly the Tribunal without discussing theevidence placed on record awarded the compensation.

( 3 ) ADMITTEDLY, in the claim petition, the claimant had attributed thenegligence to the driver of both the buses. They had pleaded that the accident was on account of the composite negligence of the driver of the bus No. D. L. P. 73 as well as bus No. D. L. P. 3677. The claimant had asserted thatdeceased Kartar Singh died due to the composite negligence of respondents1 to 4 and they were vicariously liable. DTC in its written statement haddenied that there was any negligence on the part of its driver. However, nowritten statement on behalf of its driver Sant Lal has been filed. Exceptdtc and the New India Assurance Co. (respondent No. 5) no other respondent filed the written statement.

( 4 ) ADVERTING to the evidence the testimony of Shri Chander Bhan (P. W. 7), is very relevant. He was on duty at chowk Chhatta Rly. Pul whenthis accident took place. His testimony supports the version that the collisionbetween the two buses was due to the composite negligence of both thedrivers. According to him the bus No. D. L. P. 3677 was on route No. 18. It was coming from Kauria Bridge side at a fast speed. It took turn towardsright front side, at that very time the DTC bus No. D. L. P. 73 was also coming from Shahdara side. It colluded with the other bus. He was controllingthe traffic at that time. His statement was recorded at that time. Accordingto him the DTC bus was not driven at a fast speed. It had crossed the redlight. His testimony that the private bus was coming in a fast speed or thatthe DTC bus was being driven slowly, does not prove that the negligence wasthat of the driver of bus No D. L. P. 3677 or of the DTC bus. Rather itshows that the driver of both the buses were not keeping proper outlookwhile entering the crossing. They were negligent. They did not care norensured the safety of the passengers. This fact further find support from thetestimony of Diwan Singh (P. W. 9 ). He is stated to be another eye witnessof the occurrence. According to him the bus coming from Shahdara i. e. thedtc bus actually colluded with the private bus. Shri Chander Bhan (P. W. 7)stated that the private bus was driven very fast whereas according to Diwa